Pretenses
by Maurelle
Summary: Prideshipping. In an effort to buy a company Kaiba is backed into a corner with his only way out being pretending to have an intimate relationship with another man. He enlists Yami's aid, but as the lines between pretense and reality blur what will he do?
1. Chapter 1

A note before we begin. There will be a number of OCs in this story. I tend to hate them myself, but since we are never given the head of any of Kaiba Corp.'s departments, I had to create them. I also know that no businessman at the level Kaiba is could survive without a PA. I will try to keep their roles as small as I can in the circumstances. Also, I would like to say that this is a gift fic for a friend. It was her plot bunny that started this whole thing. I bid you enjoy.

* * *

Seto Kaiba was a pragmatic man. Everything around him, with the exception of his brother, was thought of in terms of cost and gain. Would it be worth paying the maid a little more to not have to worry about the press learning about how he was almost always running on just two hours worth of sleep? Should he bring the side table next to his bed closer so he didn't have to reach as far to turn the alarm off? Was the headache that staging exhibition matches be worth the good publicity it would gain him and the money that would be sent to the charity? He barely nodded to his secretary as he walked towards his office, all these questions and more buzzing in the back of his head. He was pleased to find his PA standing next to his desk with a folder listing all of his appointments for the day and anything that had happened at the overseas branches.

"Kaiba-sama," the woman said biting one lip gloss covered lip as she handed him the folder. He sat his briefcase on the desk and turned to look at her. Over the years that he had known her he had come to understand that the habit only crept up when she was going to have to tell him something he would not like. He turned his full attention to her, the various debates in his mind halting. His gaze had the same affect that headlights would have on a deer. He had often been told that his gaze was unnerving at the best of times, but when it was solely focused on you it was downright frightening. Seto was proud of this fact. He would never admit to it, but he had spent time meeting his own ice blue gaze in the mirror in order to make sure it would have the desired affect.

"Out with it, Risa," he said opening the folder without looking away from her. He watched her take a deep breath and knew she was about to spit out whatever it was that had her instinctually worried to be within his grasp when the news was delivered.

"It's Slade Enterprises, sir," she said and Kaiba, who had removed his attention from her to the list of appointments, looked up at her sharply. "Mr. Slade's offering to sell with conditions." Seto became puzzled at the news, though it refused to show on his face. Slade was the head of the only other corporation involved in the manufacturing of Duel Disks. His company was the only one that grew the correct size diamonds used as a lens for the holographic projection of the cards. Kaiba had hated using them, but had been left with little choice seeing as they had patented their process. He had tried to buy the company from Slade several times, only to be turned down with the firm statement of it not being for sale. Why was he willing to sell now and why was Risa treating this like it was something that was going to put him in a bad mood for the next week?

"The conditions?" Seto asked as he noted that he had a four o'clock meeting with the man's lawyer. Rise clasped perfectly manicured hands in front of her as she closed her eyes in what Kaiba had come to know was her way of making sure she remembered every little detail. He put up with the quirk simply because it had always worked.

"He wants 120 million out the door," Risa began her list, Kaiba nodding at the fact that it was doable. He never liked parting with money but it was worth it to gain complete control over the manufacturing of the Duel Disks. "He wants guarantees that it will not affect any of the workers 401Ks or pensions. He wants you to make sure to continue to buy out the patent every seven years." So far everything was doable for him. He was planning on buying out the patent so that he would not have to worry about some two-bit company trying to sell a knock off of his product anyway. It was well known that Kaiba Corp. rivaled Apple in its pride over its products. There would be no such thing as a knock off. "And one more thing," Risa said her eyes opening so that she could look him in the face when she said it; "you have to marry his daughter."

Kaiba blinked once, twice at her words. Surely he couldn't have heard her right. Things like that had gone the way of the dinosaurs in the business world. Not only that, but Seto knew for a fact that his daughter was nothing more than a snot-nosed gold digger who would likely spend her entire trust fund on shoes. He had met her once when he had actively been trying to woe the company away from Slade. He had recognized the look in her eyes all too well. It was the look that Mokuba often gave things he wanted but knew he was going to have to play hardball to get crossed with the obsessive look he had seen in the eyes of fangirls. He had stayed far away from her after that. Rise clearly took his lack of comment; his face was always blank so she could never use that to go off of, as meaning he was enraged beyond words.

"I sent the faxed copy of the agreement to the legal department earlier, sir," she said meeting his gaze. "They should have some way around the condition before your nine o'clock with Shino." This was why Kaiba had hired her to begin with. She had a way of knowing exactly what needed to be done and doing it so that he often found people halfway to a solution by the time he knew there was a problem. He had enough to worry about without having to tell someone what needed to be seen to every second of every day.

"Good. I need you to stop by the school and give Mokuba his lunch. He left it on the counter again," Seto said looking through the rest of the contents of the folder. Risa nodded and bowed as she exited the office.

* * *

By eight he had the head of the legal department in his office and a copy of the contact in his hands. It appeared that they had found a way around the contract, but he didn't like it. Not one bit. He was almost tempted to give in and marry the girl. But his common sense told him that it would end with him conveniently dead and Mokuba disinherited. He rubbed his temples as the older man across from him went over the contract yet again.

"It very clearly states that you must marry his daughter, excepting a serious prior relationship, and then only that of one with same gender. He had to give you a way out legally with this kind of provision, and it's very clear he has quite the legal team working for him," Kotetsu said as he shook his head. Risa was leaning against the windowsill, her lips twisted into a frown as she thought.

"What about faking a relationship? I'm sure you could find someone who was willing to pretend to be Seto Kaiba's boyfriend. The contact only says the relationship has to go on while it is being signed. You could 'break-up' once all the technicalities are taken care of and you own the company. He can't say anything about it then," Risa suggested using one hand to push red bangs out of her eyes in frustration. Seto frowned in his chair as he leaned back. The same thought had occurred to him, but he had dismissed it for the same reasons his publicist looked like she had swallowed a frog.

"I'll tell you why we can't do that," the stern looking woman said her tone saying she was appalled at the very idea. "The amount of media fallout that is going to result from informing them that Japan's number one bachelor is homosexual is going to be like dropping a bomb on Hiroshima again. I know that the younger female population will eat it up and the male population is desensitized enough to not care, but the older generation, the one we do business with, will be very displeased. We can deal with that because of the fact that they would dare not say anything outright with the way the younger population is. However, any one we could find who would be willing to fake a relationship on this scale, with the media this involved, will turn to the media the second the gig is up. Then we have a scandal of biblical proportions on our hands, and a legitimate reason for them not to do business with us."

"What about someone you know, Kaiba-sama? They might be willing to do it without going to the media," Risa said not willing to let her idea die. So far it was the only one that showed any promise of working. Kaiba snorted at her suggestion, finding it be absurd. There were lots of people he knew, but very few he would even think of putting in a category as more than acquaintances. "What about one of those people Mokuba is always dragging over? They seem friendly enough towards you. I'm sure they'd be willing to help you out," Risa said as she saw Seto putting her idea to the wayside. It was a risk to bring up something that was clearly home life to Kaiba in this setting but things were getting desperate.

Seto steepled his fingers in front of his face as he thought. It was in his nature to look at every option before deciding on a course of action and even he had to admit that Risa's plan had merit. He began pulling up what he knew about each member of Yuugi-tachi. The mutt he threw out without having to think. There was only a façade of tolerance between the two. Honda was dating dog's sister if he remembered correctly, so he was out. Yuugi was still too much of a wide-eyed innocent and he would feel awful for having the media drag him through the mud like that. That left only one of them: Yami. Just thinking about him was enough to put Kaiba on edge. He had staunchly denied the spirit's existence until such point as said spirit had delivered one hell of a punch for one of his comments about the mutt. He had pretty much steered clear after that except for the times Mokuba forced him on a group outing. As far as he knew, Yami was working in Yuugi's grandfather's game shop and doing little else. Come to think of it, hadn't Mokuba mentioned something about Yami complaining that because he had no legal records of his existence he couldn't get a job or even enroll in school? A smirk graced his features and the three people in the room came to attention. They knew what that smirk meant.

"Risa, could you run by the Kame Game Shop and pick up a Yami Mutou for me?" Kaiba asked, his PA knowing it was an order and not a request. He turned to the head of his legal department and the man sighed. Whatever Kaiba was planning, it would likely cut into his afternoon tee-time.

* * *

Yami rarely if ever encountered something that he did not understand. He had made up countless games on the spot, figured out rules as he went along, etc. But being picked up by the woman he knew was Seto Kaiba's personal assistant without an explanation as to why, was one thing he could not wrap his mind around. The woman smiled at him as she looked up from where she was obsessively checking her mail on her blackberry next to him. He originally thought that she was a nice enough person, if a little odd. Any one who was willing to but up with Kaiba for more than twelve hours and be on call after that had to have something loose in her head. He returned the smile as the limo came to a smooth stop at one of the hidden entrances to Kaiba Corp. Yami raised an eyebrow as he got out, followed by the woman. Why hadn't they used the front entrance? Had he just willingly walked into the hands of a kidnapper? Not that they would stand a chance if they tried to make him stay.

"If you would follow me? The building is a bit of a labyrinth until you know your way around," Risa said as she both swiped her cardkey and pressed her thumb to the small pad next to it. The glass doors slid open and Yami once more wondered at Kaiba's paranoia. The building was built like he was expecting some kind of siege. He followed her, ignoring the startled looks he got from the various employees at both his hair and his clothes. Yami had largely picked up his fashion sense from his aibou, which explained why he was wearing a pair of leather pants that looked painted on and a fishnet shirt with the normal black sleeveless top over it, along with all the various belts, buckles, and cuffs he usually wore. He watched as Risa repeated the routine from the door to gain access to an elevator. The doors opened with a muted ding, and Yami stepped inside staring at the wall to wall mirrors.

"This is the only elevator that leads to Kaiba's business suite. I think you're the only person besides myself and Mokuba to see it," Risa told him and Yami blinked at her. Kaiba had a whole house in his office building? What the hell?

* * *

Seto sat at the table in the dining room of his suite, a bento sitting next to the lap top he was currently typing on. Like everything in his life the suite served a specific purpose. It was there for when he had to work late into the night and it would be better for him to crash there than waste the time driving home. It also served as a place to stay should something happen to the house. The suite's rooms were set up just like the ones in his home allowing for him to not have to look for things when he needed them.

He stood as he heard the telltale ding of the elevator reaching his floor. It seemed Risa had managed to convince Yami to come. Not that he had any doubt she would; she always found some way of carrying out his orders. He walked into the living room that the elevator was in and smirked as he saw Yami looking around the room like he had just entered the Twilight Zone. Risa caught his eye as she noticed him, a silent question being asked.

"Go ahead and take lunch, Risa," Kaiba said startling Yami who turned to look at where he was leaning against the doorway. The woman bowed before retreating back into the elevator. Seto looked at the diminutive teenager who was standing in the middle of his living room, arms crossed and glaring. Something about the look was reassuring. It was the look of someone who was not the least bit intimated by him. He gestured for the other to follow him back into the dining room. "Have you eaten?"

Yami glared at Kaiba's back at the question. It sounded almost like he expected him to be half starved or something. And, frankly, it didn't really matter whether or not he had eaten. He was not planning on staying any longer than it would take to find out why the other had gone through all the trouble of having him brought to his private suite of all things. It was in Yami's nature to be suspicious of the other. The last time they had had any kind of contact had been Yami defending his friend's honor. The two had stayed away from each other after that. Kaiba paused as they came to the dining room, looking over at Yami expectantly.

"I don't think it really matters, Kaiba-san. I'm not going to be here very long anyway," Yami said as he took the chair Kaiba had motioned for him to sit in.

"And here I thought that I should be nice. Goes to show where nice gets me," Kaiba said faking wounded as he sat across from Yami, but not back in his original spot. He knew that he would be too tempted to finish the authorization of overtime for both his legal department and his publicist. Yami resisted rolling his eyes at the other's behavior.

"Just get on with it. What did you bring me here for?" Yami said adopting the same air of boredom he often used when he was pharaoh and stuck having to listen to a particularly boring briefing. He noticed the change in Kaiba immediately. Kaiba had always oozed power and confidence, but it seemed to increase tenfold when he was dealing with things business related.

"A bit of business, actually," Kaiba said leaning back in his chair and studying Yami. Now was he last chance to back out of this entire thing and save himself from the potential humiliation he could suffer at the hands of the only person in existence who had managed to defeat him. It was not a pleasant feeling. "I hear that you are having difficulties procuring proper documentation." Yami narrowed his eyes in displeasure at what the other was saying. How could he know about that? And more importantly, why would he care?

"I fail to see how it concerns you, but yes, I am in a bit of a bind because of my lack of legal status in this country," Yami admitted wondering what the other was going to do with the information. He did not like the gleam in the other's eyes. It was the same one he often got when he had pulled a card that would start the change reaction of events that could lead to Yami's defeat.

"I could help you with that. I have several friends in the immigration department. It would be easy enough to get you a visa," Seto said putting his chin on his fist as he looked at the other. He knew he had Yami right where he wanted him. But, Yami was not stupid. He knew that Kaiba never offered anyone anything for free. He had gotten better with dealing with people, but there was no way his pragmatic side would ever truly go away.

"What do you want, Kaiba-san? There is no such thing as free," Yami said meeting the other's eyes. Seto almost seemed to contemplate what he was going to ask for. Had he not planed this the whole way out? That was unlike him, and Yami dismissed it a rouse.

"Very true," Kaiba acknowledged as he sat back in his chair again. "What I want Yami is fairly simple: you." Yami blinked at the statement. That was not what he had expected to hear. He had expected something along the lines of a public match with him loosing, or having him work as one of his game testers. But, Kaiba was still talking. "I want you to pretend to be engaged to me for the next three to six weeks. Everything will be provided, and you'll have to move into the house…" Kaiba seemed ready to go on at length, but Yami wanted to understand what all this was really about before he even thought of agreeing to anything the other was spouting.

"You want me to pretend to be your fiancé? I'm flattered that you thought of me and all, but why? I've never seen you having trouble finding dates for the various events, and you want me to pretend to have been having a longstanding relationship with you. I fail to see how this is beneficial to you at all," Yami said putting his elbows on the table and clasping his hands before leaning on them to look the other in the eyes. Kaiba merely smirked as Yami played right into his hands. While he wasn't Yuugi and wouldn't do anything for someone he thought of as a friend, he would be more willing to do it if he understood the motivations behind it.

"I am in the process of acquiring a company that I have sought after for years," Kaiba kept going as Yami looked ready to cut him off, "Most of the terms and conditions I can deal with. There is one; however, that has left me in a bit of a predicament. The owner of the company wants me to wed his daughter. As I'm sure you know, I have little interest in marriage and all that it entails, and he was kind enough to leave me with a loophole: I must be in a serious relationship with someone of the same gender. That is where you come in. All I ask is that you play your role to the best of your ability and tell no one that the whole thing was staged. Once the company is firmly in my hands we will 'break-up'," Kaiba sat waiting for Yami's reaction as he finished with his story. Yami stared at him as the information settled. This was rich. Someone had basically out maneuvered Seto Kaiba at his own game, leaving him with no one but his rival to save him. He couldn't help the smirk that appeared on his face.

"That's quite the conundrum, Kaiba-san," Yami said as he made to stand and Kaiba stood with him. Yami had his pride, however. As tempting as the offer of becoming a legal citizen of the country was, he was not going to bring himself so low as to pose as Kaiba's lover so he could buy a damn company. "It's really too bad that I can't help you with it." Seto was stunned. Was Yami really turning him down? Had he messed up that bad in his explanation? He had been so sure that it would work. He was appealing to both Yami's need to help a friend out was in need and offering him proper compensation. Or was the idea of pretending to be his lover that horrible? Somehow that thought hurt him. He didn't have time to question it, though. Yami had left the room and was summoning the elevator. By the time he came to from his thoughts Yami had already stepped into the elevator.

* * *

Yami stepped out into the corridor that the elevator came to and realized the one mistake of his exit: he had no clue how to leave. He could just wander around until someone noticed him and showed him out. Deciding that this sounded like a reasonable course of action he started down the hall. Unfortunately, he happened to walk right by Risa's office. She was out in the hall in a second.

"Yami-sama!" the woman called and Yami turned around with a sigh. At the very least she could show him out faster than his current plan. She walked so that she was level with him. "How did things go with Kaiba-sama?" she asked. Yami wondered how much the other knew about Kaiba's purpose in having her bring him there. It could potentially be very embarrassing if the other was not already informed. While Yami remained firm in his turning down of the offer, he had no wish to embarrass the mad further. So he answered with a statement that could allude to anything.

"I told him no," Yami said as he began to follow her into yet another elevator that would take them to the ground floor. She showed no emotion either way at the news.

"Ah," Risa said as she absently played with a lock of hair. "That's a shame. I hear that woman is quite a piece of work. She had a fiancé up until recently, but he died. Funny thing was she was named the sole beneficiary of the will. Not even a mention of the man's ten year old sister. I heard that she had to be put in an orphanage because she had no money." Her tone was that of a person talking about some piece of trivial gossip she had managed to pick up randomly, but Yami realized what she was saying. She was suggesting that the same fate could be in store for Kaiba and Mokuba should he agree to the other's terms. "We're here," Risa said with a smile as they came out in the main lobby of Kaiba Corp. Yami made to step out of the elevator, but found he couldn't. This had to be the most ridiculous thing he had ever done, but no one deserved to end up like the people Risa had mentioned.

"Take me back up there, damn it," Yami said as he got back into the elevator. Due to the fact that she was pressing a button on the panel he failed to see the small smile on her face.

* * *

Yami made it back to the shop three hours later to find the three most common members of Yuugi-tachi there. He wondered what he was going to tell them. Risa had said she would be back after she went to pick up Mokuba, so he needed to only pack the essentials. He really didn't want to lie to everyone, but he knew that it would be considered a breach of contract if he did. The only exception to this was his aibou, and was because he couldn't hide anything from him if he wanted to.

"Hey, Yami! It's good to see you in one piece. I was afraid that I would have to take Kaiba Corp apart looking for you," Joey said with a grin as Yami walked into the small living room. Yami shook his head at the other. He likely wouldn't get past the security guards in the lobby.

"So what did Kaiba want?" Yuugi asked from where he was currently playing on the playstation with Honda. It looked like some sort of racing game. Yami took a deep breath. It was now or never.

"He asked me to move in," the silence after his statement was profound. It was short lived though, as Joey managed to find his voice.

"He what?!" Joey said at an unhealthy volume. Yami winced. He really didn't want to repeat it. He felt Yuugi's concern through the connection that they hadn't been able to completely sever.

_Is it true?_ He asked tentatively as Joey continued to rant about the nerve of some people.

_It's true._ Yami offered. He watched as Yuugi bit his lip.

_What did you say?_ There was a nervousness to the question that gripped Yami's heart and squeezed. He hated doing this to his aibou, but he couldn't tell him the truth with Joey and Honda there. So he worked around the question.

_Help me get them out and I'll tell you what happened._ Yuugi nodded and proceeded to tell the other two that his grandpa would be home with dinner soon and they should probably start their homework. With much ado they managed to get their guests out of the house. Yami made for the room that the two of them shared.

"So what happened?" Yuugi asked as he watched the darker version on himself pull out a duffel bag and proceed to fill it with his personal effects.

"Kaiba," Yami said as he grabbed his deck from its place on the dresser, "somehow managed to convince me to pretend to be his boyfriend for the next three to six weeks." He looked up from his task as Yuugi let out a squeak of shock. Surely, Yami wasn't serious?

"His boyfriend?" Yuugi repeated in disbelief. Yami nodded as he zipped the bag up.

"Don't worry. I'm getting something out of the deal too," Yami cursed as he heard the horn from Risa's car. She had offered to take it so that no one would wonder why there was a limo in the parking lot. "I'll visit. I promise," Yami said as he hugged his still dazed other. He dashed out the door and into the car, not liking the smirk on Mokuba's face.

* * *

The room they had given Yami was beyond anything he had seen since he was pharaoh. It consisted of a partial office, bedroom and bath. The office was beautifully done in soft blue, the furniture an unpractical white. The bookshelves had been carved to depict scenes of what Yami knew where Blue Eyes White Dragons doing various normal activities. The bedroom was a darker shade of blue, closer to the deep rich royal blue. The bed had to be custom made because he had never seen a king sized bed that large. The comforter was a shade lighter than the walls and from where it was folded he knew that the sheets were a soft silver color. He ran his hand down the comforter and had to bite back a sound of joy. They weren't silk like he had been expecting. They were Egyptian cotton. He put his duffel on the bed and walked into the bathroom. They entire thing was made of marble. It was a soft white color with blue tones marbled through it. Yami was amazed to find that it was all made from a single piece of marble; the cabinets under the his-and-her-sinks the only place where the marble had been cut apart. There was both shower and a bathtub, the latter looking closer to a Jacuzzi than anything he had seen. The towels that hung on silver hooks and bars were a shade of blue so light they looked white. Yami reached a hand out to see if the fluffy towels were as soft as they looked.

"I take it you like the room?" an amused voice came from behind him and, startled, he whipped around, the faint black glow of the shadows dancing on his hand. Seto was leaning against the bathroom door frame still in his dark blue suit from earlier in the day. His eyes flicked to the shadows on Yami's hand before dismissing them as unimportant. "Put those away."

"Osiris, Kaiba-san," Yami said as he let the shadows go back to where they belonged, "You scared me half to death."

"I find that hard to believe considering you're supposed to be 3,000 years dead," Seto said sarcasm dripping off the words. Yami rolled his eyes and walked past him and into the bedroom. "You never answered my question." Yami looked at him from the corner of his eye as he set about unpacking.

"It's more like rooms, and yes. It has been a long time since I was surrounded with this kind of luxury," Yami admitted as he turned to look for the wardrobe. He paused as his eyes found not one, but two white wardrobes sitting next to the closet. Yami moved his eyes from the wardrobes to the decidedly smirking Kaiba.

"Is something wrong?" Seto asked fake concern coating his voice. He should've known that Yami wouldn't understand just how far they were going to have to go with this farce. Kaiba employed a grand total of two maids, who were allowed to come and go through rooms as long as they were not locked. He never locked his room, leaving it open as an invitation to Mokuba should he ever need to see his nii-sama.

"Why are there two wardrobes in here, Kaiba-san?" Yami asked almost wincing as he noted that it was not the demand he had wanted it to be. It sounded far more nervous than anything else.

"I would have thought that obvious, Yami," Seto said as he pushed open the door to the walk-in closet showing that half of it was full of his various suits and jackets. "I have staff here at the house. While I would like to believe that they would never tell the media anything about what goes on behind these doors, I have to be realistic. There is a very high possibility that once the media is informed, one of them could turn traitor. I would rather not have things fall apart because I overlooked some small detail." Yami could see the logic in that statement even if the arrangements were far from ideal in his opinion.

"These are your rooms then?" Yami asked as he walked to one of the wardrobes to put his clothes away. He wondered how many people had ever been inside Seto Kaiba's personal rooms. He was relieved when he picked the right one and it was empty.

"Ah," Kaiba answered in the affirmative. Kaiba opened his own wardrobe to look for something that would be more comfortable around the house. Deciding on a pair of black slacks and a deep purple long sleeved shirt, he headed to the bathroom to change. He knew that doing so was silly. This was his room, and it wasn't like Yami hadn't seen everything he had before. But he did it anyway.

"Why are you even here?" Yami called to him seeing as the door was partially open. He was almost thankful that the other had decided to go in there to change. Close to 3,000 years in a puzzle led to a very frustrated spirit who had no complaints about gender and there was a reason that Kaiba was listed as one of the most wanted businessmen in the world in Forbes.

"I didn't have anymore appointments for the day and there wasn't anything pressing that I couldn't do from here. I also kind of owe Mokuba for dropping this on him," Seto said as he walked back into the room. Because Yami had been allowed to tell Yuugi the truth about the whole thing, Seto had demanded that he be allowed to tell his brother. So Mokuba knew about the whole arrangement. Yami blinked as Kaiba walked back in. He had never him in anything other than suits and his battle attire. It was odd to seem him in casual clothing. Not that the clothing took anything away from Seto's appearance.

"Speaking of," Yami began as he finished putting his things away minus what needed to go in the bathroom. He could do that before he went to bed. "He said something about grabbing dinner after I finished here." Kaiba nodded and motioned for Yami to follow him. The walk to the kitchen was quiet. Yami was not used to the quiet. Yuugi was always talking to someone, be it Yami or his grandfather. The TV was almost constantly left on, unless they were all gone. Even the walls on the game shop were thin so there was constantly noise from the street carried over. Then there was the fact that he spent along time in silence. He had been wrapped in it for a long time before Yuugi had put the puzzle together, and even then he had lived in silence except when he was needed by the other. So it was with relief that Yami saw Mokuba staring intently at the oven door.

"What ever are you doing, Mokuba?" Seto asked delighted in how the other turned around and practically tackle hugged him. It was rare that Kaiba was home for dinner on a weekday.

"Nii-sama! When did you get here? Why aren't you at work? Can we play Tekken after dinner?" Mokuba asked the second he released his hold on his brother.

"I got here about twenty minutes ago, and I left work because it could all be done from here. As for Tekken, your homework had better be finished," Seto answered with a small smile that only his brother ever seemed to be able to drag out of him. Yami watched the interaction with a warm smile. He knew that the brothers were close, but it was nice to see evidence of the fact that didn't involve one or the other being kidnapped. He was pulled from his musing as the timer on the oven went off and Mokuba proceeded to put on oven mitts a couple sizes too big to pull out a casserole of some kind.

"You cook, Mokuba-chan?" Yami asked as the kid put the dish on the stove. Mokuba pulled off the mitts and shook his head.

"Nah. The cook is usually gone before I get hungry so she always leaves something that would be simple to cook for me," Mokuba explained as he got dishes out.

"What do you want to drink? We have orange juice, tea, milk, water, and some apple juice left," Seto asked to no one in particular as he pulled the glasses out of the cabinet next to the sink. Yami sat at the bar as he saw Mokuba putting the silverware there.

"Water is fine," Yami said as he watched how the two of them moved. It was clear that this was fairly routine with how they never seemed be in the other's way. It also helped that the kitchen was one that any professional cook would envy.

"I'll take apple juice, nii-sama," Mokuba said as he began portioning out the casserole. Seto nodded absently as he poured the drinks. It was odd to have someone else to see to. Most of his meals were taken either next to his laptop or at a business dinner making meals like this a rare treat for his brother. He made a note to tell Risa to start scheduling some Mokuba time into his schedule. He was getting too busy to go without scheduling it. "Let's eat!" Mokuba said as they sat at the counter. He was naturally the first to dig in, gaining a smile from Yami. The kid was so much like Joey when he ate.

"Breathe, Mokuba," Kaiba said his voice sounding amused. At the rate he was inhaling food he was likely to choke or pass out from oxygen depravation. Yami chuckled a little as he watched. The casserole was good. It was some western thing with noodles, tuna and cheese.

"When are you planning to make the announcement, nii-sama?" Mokuba asked as he paused to take a drink. Seto frowned. He hated talking business when he was with Mokuba like this. Oddly it was Yami who answered.

"We aren't," Yami said getting an odd look from Mokuba. "Kaiba-san and I thought that we would work me into his charity dinner tomorrow night and wait until the media picked up on it before we made any kind of formal announcement. We want them to think that we had been hiding this for a while and that they were forcing it out of us to make it look more genuine." Mokuba nodded his head as he finished his plate and got up to get seconds.

"That makes sense," he said. "But Yami, you have to stop calling nii-sama Kaiba-san. You're lovers, remember?" Seto blinked as he realized that his brother had a point. Yami looked over at him clearly asking what Seto wanted to be called. He toyed briefly with the idea of having him add koi to the end of his name, but it seemed too odd for him to get his mind around.

"Just call me Seto, then," Kaiba said as he continued eating his meal. Yami nodded trying out the name in his mind. He almost frowned as he found it morphing into Seth. They looked too much the same with names so close to each other that his mind was trying to reconcile the two. He would have to be very careful about a slip of the tongue. He knew Kaiba would not appreciate being called by the long dead priest's name.

"Alright then, Seto," Yami said as Mokuba proceeded to fill up the gap in conversation with a rather detail description of what he had done that day.

* * *

Yami wandered back to the set of rooms he was going to be sharing with Kai...no Seto. He knew that the only way he would remember to call the other that would be if he started to call him that in his mind. It also didn't help that Mokuba had pretty much worn him out. That kid had more energy than a nuclear reactor, and he had been overjoyed when Yami agreed to play some videogames with him. Seto had left the two of them so that he could finish up his work. Yami was beginning to realize that he had gotten the short end of the stick. Any kind of work had to be better than entertaining that kid.

Yami pushed open the door to find Seto at the desk in the study, staring at something with a scowl. It immediately spiked Yami interest as he realized that Seto must not have heard him come in. What had distracted the other so completely? Quietly as he could, Yami walked so that he could see the screen. Unfortunately, Seto had a privacy screen on it.

"What are you doing, Yami?" Kaiba asked without shifting position. He had heard the other come in, but his mind was so deep in working to see how he could fix the problem he hadn't given any indication of it. He had to fight back a smirk as he saw Yami start in the reflection on the laptop. It was clear that he had thought he had escaped all forms of detection.

"I was trying to see what has you looking like you swallowed a bushel of lemons," Yami said defensively as he crossed his arms. He was pouting though he would never admit it. Kaiba shook his head as he turned to look at Yami behind him.

"You could've just asked," Seto pointed out laughter dancing in his eyes as he noticed the way Yami was pouting. He was acting just like an overgrown child. Clearly all that time that he spent with Mokuba had messed with his mind. Yami just sighed. Honestly, where was the fun in just asking?

"Fine. What's the problem?" Yami asked. Kaiba sighed as his momentary distraction was taken away from him. He needed to solve this so they could go into production before Christmas. He motioned Yami over so that he could see the screen of the laptop. On it was a complete rendering of the new Duel Disk model. It was smaller and thinner. A large KC took up the middle. It looked just fine to him. "I don't get it," he said frowning.

"Something's not right. I'm thinking it's the color, but everything I've tried with it makes it look worse," Kaiba explained as he leaned back in the chair in exasperation and ended up leaning partially on Yami due to the fact that the chair back was not very high. Yami ignored the touch, tapping his lips as he thought. The idea behind the currently model was clearly the same as most motorcycles: sleek and sexy. The motorcycle that Honda had been dreaming about came to mind. He couldn't remember the name or make, he hadn't really been paying attention at the time, but he remembered the color.

"Can you show me to color choices?" Yami asked chewing his bottom lip as he took his hands away from his mouth. Kaiba nodded and clicked the color palette button. Instantly the screen was filled with thousands of different colored squares. No wonder Seto had such a hard time trying to find the right color. Yami squinted at the little boxes as he looked for the color he wanted. "That one," Yami said pointing. He was careful not to touch the screen as he did it. He remembered how Bakura had reacted when he had done that to his computer. Seto clicked the box and instantly an almost black color filled the spaces. It wasn't truly black, Kaiba noticed. As he rotated the render, changing the light angle he noticed that it had a crimson color where the light hit it. It was perfect.

"Thanks," Kaiba said truly impressed. He had been messing with it for almost two hours without luck. Yami just nodded and yawned. A quick look at the clock on the computer confirmed that it was close to midnight. He needed to get to bed.

"I'm going to bed," Yami said turning in that direction. "Try to be quiet when you come in." Seto blinked at the request. It was odd to think he was going to be sharing his bed with another and that he would have to watch how much noise he made so that he didn't disturb the other.

"Alright," Kaiba said. "Oh, before I forget, Risa is going to pick you up around ten so she can make sure everything is set for the dinner and such." Yami stiffened at the words. Did Kaiba think that he was going to embarrass them? He had once been the king of one of the most advanced civilizations in history. He could survive a formal dinner without _help._

"Do you think me incompetent, K-Seto?" Yami asked almost slipping in his anger. Kaiba blinked at him. He couldn't see how Yami had jumped to that conclusion.

"No," Kaiba said as Yami turned around to glare at him. "Do you own a suit? Dress shoes?" Kaiba asked dryly. Yami blinked and felt his anger defuse. He had forgotten about all of that. It made sense for Kiba to have Risa make sure he had the proper clothes and such. He could just image their faces if he showed up in leather and chains. If it wasn't for the fact that Kaiba would kill him for it, he would've gone that way for the shock factor.

"I apologize," Yami said as he headed back into the bedroom. Kaiba merely waved his hand in dismissal and went back to his work. Yami yawned as he pulled on the worn sweat pants that he used for sleepwear and grabbed his toiletries. He was in the process of brushing his teeth when he felt the soft brush of Yuugi on his consciousness.

_Abiou?_ Yami questioned as he continued his actions like he wasn't talking to someone telepathically.

_Hey,_ his voice sounded uneasy. _Umm…What do you want me to tell Joey and the others? Joey was really worried when I told him that you had gone over to Kaiba-kun's. _Yami thought about it for a second. He really hated that his light was going to have to lie for him, but a deal was a deal.

_Tell them that Seto and I have been dating for the past three months and we decided to keep it a secret so that the media couldn't get a hold of it. Apologize to them for me keeping it a secret and tell them that Seto asked and I moved in._ It fit the story that the two of them had concocted. That was really the best thing to do.

_Alright, but they're not going to like it._ Yuugi said and Yami could tell that the other was sleepy. Yami closed down the link after a brief good-bye and wiped his mouth on the hand towel provided. It really was as fluffy as it looked.


	2. Chapter 2

Seto woke at precisely 4:30am. It didn't matter whether he had gone to bed at 4, it had been so programmed into him that it was automatic. That wasn't why he was currently staring at the ceiling and blinking as his mind rapidly tried to reconcile several things without the aid of caffeine. No, that reason was the warmth that was currently nestled into his side with his head using his chest as a pillow. He hadn't fallen asleep in such a position, he knew. Yami had been on the far side of the bed, nothing more than a lump with overly spiky tri-colored hair. So then how had they ended up so close? He sighed and decided that he would think further on it as soon as he had some coffee in his system. That still left him with trying to figure out how he was going to get up without waking the other. Kaiba was too tired to feel embarrassed, but Yami had much more sleep than he had. It was entirely possible he could be more alert at this hour. He laid there thinking, never noticing the fact that he had taken the hand on the arm partially wrapped around Yami and begun running his fingers back and forth on the other's arm.

Yami, meanwhile, was doing everything he could to appear like he was asleep. He had woken up as soon as Seto's breathing pattern had changed. He had figured he would save them both some embarrassment and pretend to still be asleep. Then Kaiba had started with running his fingers across his skin. He had almost tensed at the feeling. Not that there was anything wrong with it. On the contrary, under different circumstances he would enjoy the soothing motions immensely. Suddenly, the motions stopped and Yami could feel his heart rate increase tenfold. Had he been found out? He forced himself to breathe, knowing that if he gave into temptation and stopped Seto would immediately notice. He couldn't help the relief that flooded him when he realized that the motions had stopped because Kaiba was carefully sliding out from under him in order to get up. Yami couldn't help but feel touched that the other had this much concern for him, even if it was likely just to save them both from an awkward situation. Once he heard the shower start, he snuggled into the warm spot that the other had vacated and fell back into sleep.

* * *

Yami woke up some time later, feeling extremely well rested. He lifted his head so that he could look at the small clock that sat on the bedside. He blinked in an effort to clear the sleep from his eyes as he noted that it was roughly 9:45am. Yami wondered why Jii-san had let him sleep so late. As he sat up and yawned he realized that he wasn't in the room he shared with Yuugi. Memories came back with a crash and he felt a small blush as he remembered just how he had woken up earlier that morning. But, along with that memory came another one; Seto had said Risa would be by around 10 to pick him up to go shopping. He looked back at the clock and found that it was now 9:48. _Shit._

He jumped up and into the bathroom, turning the water on in the shower to heat as he picked out clothes for the day. He ran through his morning routine with near lighting speed. He couldn't believe he had overslept like that. Normally he was up before eight so he could help Jii-san open the shop. He gave himself a quick once over in the mirror before rushing down the stairs to the foyer to wait for Risa. He had thrown on a pair of black formfitting jeans and a red sleeveless t-shirt, opting for the belts as opposed to all the other accessories. It took too much time to put them on. To his relief Risa rang from the gate a full two minutes later. He could only imagine the horror of her showing up to find him still in bed. He walked out the front door to the driveway where Risa's car was waiting. He smiled at her and got in on the passenger side.

"Good morning, Yami-sama," Risa said cheerfully as he buckled his seatbelt. He nodded his head in acknowledgement of her greeting. He heard her moving around and looked up to find her digging through a small purse. With a triumphant "Ahah" she pulled out a sleek little red flip phone with a black KC on the back. "Kaiba-sama told me to give this to you. It's got all of his numbers in it as well as Mokuba's. He said that he wanted the two of you to have a way to reach each other at a moments notice." Yami took the phone and flipped it open to find Dark Magician as his current wallpaper. Yami smirked at how thoughtful Seto was being.

"Thanks," Yami said as he put it in his pocket. Risa nodded as she pulled out of the driveway and through the gates.

"I think we should get the clothes shopping out of the way first. Charlene is always so busy in the afternoons," Risa said as they entered the shopping district of Domino. Yami watched out the window as he listened to her make ideal chatter. He frowned as he noticed how they were headed toward the ritzier part of the place. Sure, he knew that he was likely going to have to get some formal clothes, but the idea of Kaiba spending an outrageous amount of money on him didn't sit well. It felt too much like dependence and he hated it. He was well aware of the fact that hubris was often the downfall of men, but that didn't mean he was willing to let his pride go. "We're here," Risa said as she parallel parked them in front of a small white building. It looked nondescript except for the large D and G on the front and Yami relaxed a little. There was no way he could spend an outrageous amount in such a plain little store.

The two of them got out and entered the store. Yami quickly noted that the appearance of the place being small was misleading. Row beyond row of clothing stretched all the way to the back. The entire space full of a multitude of different types of clothing. To his confusion, there was a small woman behind a desk just inside the door. Who needed a receptionist in a clothing store? Risa walked over to the desk and Yami followed wondering just what was going on. Risa handed the lady her ID with a smile.

"We're Charlene's eleven o'clock," Risa said and the woman nodded. She typed something into the computer on her desk before handing the ID back.

"Please remind Kaiba-sama that the withdrawals will not show on his account for three to five business days," the woman said in a monotone that made it clear she was required to say that to each and everyone of the people that came through the doors. Yami was saved having to listen to more of Risa's attempts at small talk by a big laugh. He turned towards it and nearly fell over in shock. Standing in front of him was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She was tall, not in need of the six inch black heeled boots she was wearing. Her brown hair was left loose down her back and her green eyes danced in delight. She wore a black dress that hinted at everything and showed nothing.

"Risa, ma petite, it has been forever!" the new comer said as she embraced Risa and air kissed her cheeks. "Kaiba hardly ever comes to see me anymore. I was thinking he was mad at me before I got the call." She paused as she noted Yami, looking at him the way a painter looks at a canvas. "That would make you Yami then? I'm Charlene, stylist to the stars." She offered Yami a hand which he shook. "Now, both of you follow me. Kaiba said he wanted a full wardrobe for you, so we shall go about making it the best looking wardrobe ever." Yami felt dread pool in his stomach. He remembered Anzu saying something like that just after he had figured out how to make himself solid. Her attempts at drilling some fashion sense into him had been torture.

"Don't give me that look, love," Charlene said as she saw the tortured look that was so common on men when you mentioned clothes shopping. She knew it was often the result of wives trying to force them into clothes they didn't want. "I match clothes with personality, and can promise you that we won't force a single thing on you that you don't want. Fashion is about expressing the self through clothing, is it not?" Yami nodded feeling relieved. Maybe this wouldn't be as bad as he was thinking it was going to be.

* * *

Kaiba was in the middle of readjusting the budget figures for research and development when his secretary rang him. He glared at the little red glowing button on his phone for a minute as he wondered what could possibly garner his attention when he was in the middle of balancing budgets. He hated balancing them because there was never enough money for everything that needed to get done making it into a large headache. Finally, he sighed and pick up the phone, resigned to dealing with whatever it was that his secretary wanted.

"Kaiba," he said letting his displeasure show in the tone of his voice.

"Kaiba-sama, sir, there is a Miss Slade here to see you. Shall I send her in?" his sectary asked. Kaiba's grip on the phone tightened. What was that wrench doing at his office? He had been hoping to avoid her until dinner that evening. There was no way he could get out of seeing her at the charity event. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"Send her in, but call me after three minutes," Kaiba said before he hung up. He looked up as he heard the door open and she walked in. Yuki Slade was a decent looking woman by most standards. She was two inches under six feet, but in her three inch stilettos you would never tell. Her hair was black and pulled back in a French braid that reached midway down her back. She wore a red halter dress that showed far too much cleavage to be considered tasteful by most. Triumph glittered in her grey eyes as she walked to his desk and sat down in the chair facing it.

"Seto-koi," she said her voice almost sickeningly sweet, "It's so good to see you." Kaiba grunted in response his eyes narrowing to a glare.

"What do you want Yuki?" he asked curtly. Her smile grew as she leaned forward and Seto had to fight the urge to retch as yet more cleavage was exposed.

"Is that any way to talk to your fiancé?" Yuki asked faking hurt. Kaiba just glared at her harder. She thought she had him trapped and was trying to toy with him. She was about to learn a painful lesson about challenging Seto Kaiba.

"I don't see him here, and if what Risa said was true, he's likely still with Charlene," Kaiba said adopting a tone that said he was bored with the topic. He watched as Yuki's expression became harsh. Yuki had never been able to get an appointment with the stylist and she saw it as a slight against her, further souring her mood.

"Him? Whatever are you talking about, Seto-koi?" Yuki asked as she once more put her mask on. Kaiba raised one eyebrow as he looked at her.

"I do believe you know exactly what I'm saying," Seto responded as he looked at the clock on his desk. Kami, had it really only been two minutes?

"You can't be serious, Kaiba," Yuki said her voice cold and her eyes narrowing. She was no longer playing her game. "You can say that you have a little boy-toy all you want, but, remember, you're going to have to prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt. And, frankly, I don't believe you."

"I don't give a damn what you believe," Kaiba said flatly. He watched as her nostrils flared in her anger. She opened her mouth to retort, only to be cut off by the phone ringing. Kaiba felt relief flood his system even if it didn't show. He was going to give that woman a raise. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have to take this." He watched as she stood practically quivering in rage. He picked up the phone and faked a research and development call.

"Just a heads up, Seto-koi," Yuki purred as she headed towards the door. Kaiba did what he could to tune her out. "I will make sure you regret the day you tried to weasel out of this deal. I'll find him, and when I do…" Her smile was chilling. She raised one hand and waved her fingers before sliding out the door. At her words Seto felt his stomach drop. Just what had he gotten Yami into? Could spirits even be killed? He really didn't want to find out the hard way.

* * *

Yami had opted to go with Risa to pick up Mokuba from school. It was Friday and that meant that she took to the limo. Yami wondered if she would get mad if he had a bit of an ulterior motive for coming along. He had never really spent this long without seeing his other save for that one time when Yuugi had allowed himself to have his soul taken in Yami's place and he never wanted to experience it again. He just hoped that Mokuba was willing to be his partner in crime. They pulled into the pick-up lane at school and Yami opened his door to get out. Risa looked like she was going to protest, but thought better of it. Yami smiled as both Mokuba and Yuugi-tachi saw him at the same time.

"Yami!" Yuugi said with a smile as he hugged the closest thing he had to a brother. He had a hard time getting to sleep last night because he couldn't hear the other breathing. It was odd what one missed when someone was gone.

"Hello, aibou," Yami said as they pulled apart and the other members of Yuugi-tachi came level with them. Yami offered a tentative smile at them, wondering how they had taken the news. Anzu refused to meet his eyes as she mumbled a hello. Yami had long known that she had been crushing on him, and while he respected her feelings he didn't return them. He had even made that clear to her on more than one occasion, though it was clear this was still hurting her. Honda just nodded like he always did acting like nothing had been told to him. He was always the one most willing to go with the flow. Joey on the other hand, well, he was loud.

"Yami! What the hell, man? How could you keep this from us? How the hell can you stand that arrogant son of a…," Joey's loud questioning was cut off by Yuugi with a swift elbow, as he had noticed the way Mokuba's hackles had started to rise. Mokuba was very defensive about his brother. He knew that Seto did not have the greatest people skills, but that was hardly his fault. Yami made to answer, the lie coming to his tongue almost naturally, but was interrupted by a very familiar cackle.

"Is it true, pharaoh? Are you shagging the priest?" Bakura asked much to the horror of Ryou, who was standing next to him. One of the things about him gaining a body was that anyone who was trapped in the items got one. Personally, Yami wanted to slit the other's throat and send him back into the ring, but he knew that having Bakura separate was a great weight off of Ryou's shoulders. That did not mean he was going to excuse the other's behavior.

"Tomb robber, you will not use such language in the presence of children," Yami said hotly. Bakura just stuck his tongue out in defiance.

"So it's true then?" The smile on Bakura's face was devious. "Is he good in bed? I hear that the emotionally repressed ones are the best in bed- all that pent up emotion, you know." Yami was moving to punch the other, but was beaten to it by Joey. Bakura held his nose to make sure he wasn't bleeding and left with a glare, Ryou trailing behind him mouthing 'sorry'. Yami raised his eyes to Joey in question.

"The images. The images…," Joey said as he cradled his head in his arms. His antics were enough to garner a snicker out of everyone present. Yami smiled and motioned for everyone to follow him to the limo and caught Mokuba's eye in question. The other nodded.

"Hey, you guys want to come over for a while? You'll have to leave before dinner, but that's a couple of hours away," Mokuba said with a smile. Much to Yami's delight everyone agreed, though with varying levels of enthusiasm. Anzu still wasn't meeting his eyes and her pain made Yami's heart clench. He would have to come up with some way of making her feel better. Didn't Mokuba say that they had a DDR machine in the game room?

* * *

Seto was not in a good mood. It seemed that Yuki had managed to get under his skin after all. He had spent the better part of his lunch hour talking security for Yami. On top of that R&D had managed to get held up on some glitch involving durability. Why hadn't they noticed that before it went in for final color and testing? He massaged his temples as he got out of his car and hit the lock button on the keychain. To make matters worse he had a charity dinner tonight with the bitch and he was expected to be civil to her. He opened the door to house from the garage and was hit was the sound of overly loud techno. He felt his eye twitch as he attempted to remind himself that he would regret killing Mokuba in the morning.

He followed the sound into the game room where he found not only Mokuba and Yami, but the rest of Yuugi-tachi playing with the various consoles. Anzu and Honda were on the DDR machine explaining the techno that had him twitching. The others were crowded around the Wii playing Mario Party. Kaiba stood there for a good two seconds in shock. What the hell were they doing in his house?

"_Mokuba_," Kaiba growled his voice low. It had an almost instantaneous affect on everyone in the room. They all froze like they had been caught stealing cookies before dinner. Mokuba looked at him sheepishly. He knew that look on his brother's face. He was beyond pissed, though not quite the level of pissed he had gotten at Pegasus. He was close. To make matters worse, Mokuba looked at the clock in the room and winced. His brother had actually gotten home _late._ Not good.

"It was all my idea, Seto," Yami said and the other's angry gaze went from Mokuba to him. "Besides, they were all leaving anyway." The others nodded profusely, and gathered up their things like demons were chasing them. Kaiba watched like a hawk hunting a mouse.

"Mokuba, go get ready," Kaiba snapped and Mokuba was up and out of the room before anyone noticed he was gone. "I'll walk them to the door and see to it that they get a ride home, Yami. You need to start getting ready as well." Kaiba's tone was indifferent, but his eyes told another story. They clearly said they would be talking about this later. He motioned for the various members of Yuugi-tachi to follow him to the door. Nothing was said as he barked an order for the limo to come around into his cell phone. They all stood out on the walk in silence. Well it would've been silence if it hadn't been for Joey and his need to talk even when it could possibly end up with him in pain.

"Hey, Kaiba," Joey said and the simmering annoyance was redirected to him as Seto raised an eyebrow in response. He was not really in the mood to deal with anything from the mutt. "I just wanted to tell you that if you break his heart I'll have to break you," he said it with calm certainty. Somehow, the idea that he was being threatened by such a person as him about a rather elaborate hoax struck him as funny. The tension and annoyance left his body as he snorted at the ridiculousness of the statement. Apparently, Joey took it the wrong way thinking that Seto was not serious about his 'commitment' to the other.

"I'm assuming that you meant that in the best way possible, mutt," Kaiba said a smirk blooming on his face, "Which is the only reason that you are still standing." The smirk grew in size as Honda and Yuugi were forced to hold Joey back as he lunged for Kaiba, muttering something about just who would still be standing after a fight. "But I can assure you that I have no intention of breaking anyone's heart, least of all his." The words had the desired affect and the fight went out of Joey as he searched Seto's eyes for something. They were saved further conversation as the limo pulled up in front of the walk. Kaiba watched them get into the car and he wondered if anyone would bother trying to protect his heart like that. He shook his head and walked back into the house. What a ridiculous thought. He didn't need anyone to worry over his heart. Who would have the power to take and break what was so carefully hidden?

* * *

Yami was in the process of putting on the pair of black boots that Charlene had insisted were formal enough for the evening when he heard the sound of Kaiba putting his metal briefcase on the desk. He felt kind of bad about how they had lost track of time and sort of dropped all of his friends onto the other's lap. He knew that Seto did not really get along with them and it looked like he had had a rather trying day. Sighing he looked up as the other walked into the bedroom. Kaiba barely spared him a glance as he headed straight for the closet. He really wanted nothing more than a shower and to spend the evening immersed in duel simulations. Life, it seemed, was conspiring against him.

"Seto," Yami began as he grabbed the sleek black biker jacket that was replacing the suit jacket for the evening. Seto came out with a black suit and a raised eyebrow to show that the other had his complete attention. He would've had it without saying his name, however, because of what he was wearing. Charlene had managed to capture the part of Yami that was rocker and mix it with just the right level of formality. Yami was in a pair of black pinstripe slacks that gave him the added illusion of height and a long sleeved black shirt. The belt on the pants was one of the studded variety that he normally wore and he had a pair of black sunglasses just over his bangs. Simply put: Yami was hot. And his, however temporary, a small voice added. Seto shook his head to clear the thought away.

"What?" he asked his voice coming out a little harsher than what he had intended because of his frustration at himself. Yami winced at the tone but continued on nonetheless.

"I'm sorry about earlier," Yami said his voice soft. He had never really had to apologize for anything before, and it required him to swallow a significant amount of his pride to admit that he was in the wrong. "I should not have invited them over here when we had something like this evening." Kaiba blinked at the other. Was he really apologizing for something that was an accident?

"Don't worry about it," he said as he slipped into the bathroom to change. He couldn't get over his aversion to changing in the other's presence. All he knew was that his gut was telling him something bad would happen if he changed in the same room. He changed with the quick efficiency that having worn suits for a majority of his life gave him. The suit was a uniform black showing off his height. The dress shirt underneath was a myriad of stripes in varying shades of grey with a black tie. It looked good on him, but then again so did everything in his closet. He walked back into the bedroom carrying his other clothes to put in the wash. He caught Yami's eye for a second and could've swore he caught something close to appreciation in them before it disappeared. As he went through the pockets of his pants, he wanted to make sure that nothing valuable went through the wash on accident, his hands closing over a small square box.

"Yami," Seto said as he pulled the box out and tossed his pants into the hamper, "I have something for you." He watched as curiosity lit in the other's eyes as he tossed the box at him. "It occurred to me that you need a ring if we are going to pull off an engagement. I didn't know exactly what you would like, but I hope it works," Kaiba said trying to put a finger on why it was that he was feeling nervous about this. It was just another piece in their little charade. Yami opened the box and was surprised by the ring. It was rather simple, a thick, gold band with a rather decent sized marquis cut ruby in the center. What caught his attention, however, were the hieroglyphics on the inside. It was only two words, but two words that could mean anything. They could be an endearment or a piece of mockery depending on how they were uttered.

"My pharaoh?" Yami asked with amusement in his voice. From someone who so desperately had wanted to believe that Egypt had never happened, the engraving was very ironic.

"You can read it. That's good," Seto said with a nod and no explanation of his choice. To be honest he didn't have one. He had walked into the jeweler's during his lunch hour looking for something that would fulfill his purposes and had come across the ring. He had been about to take the ring as it was when something came over him and he had written the hieroglyphics on a sheet of paper for the engraving. He had felt foolish doing it, but that feeling was overwhelmed by the feeling that it was _right_. So, he had ignored the look the jeweler gave him and paid for the ring. "So do you like it?" Kaiba asked trying to sound nonchalant about it as he motioned for the other to follow him to the front door to wait for Mokuba.

"Of course," Yami said as he slid it onto the ring finger of his left hand where wedding bands and such were traditionally worn. He was a little surprised by the fact that it fit his finger so well. It wasn't like he wore many rings for the other to get an idea of what size his fingers were. "If I may ask, how did you size it?" Yami asked as they walked down the stairs. Seto smirked.

"I used Mokuba as a reference. You two are practically the same size after all," Kaiba said taking delight in the glare that was leveled in his direction. While the comment had some merit, Yuugi was really closer to Mokuba in size. Yami was a good couple of inches taller than Yuugi, making it so that he came up to Seto's shoulder as opposed to mid torso. Seto enjoyed being taller than Yami. It was one thing that he could always best Yami at. Mokuba was waiting at the door dressed in a junior version of what Kaiba was wearing. A sly smirk spread across his face as he saw the ring on Yami's finger. He knew a thing or two that they didn't, the smirk said. Fortunately the car pulled up then and Mokuba was saved from the question that Yami wanted to ask about just what it was he knew.

* * *

Yami almost wished that he hadn't insisted that he knew everything he needed to know about high society etiquette. While the formula for small talk hadn't changed much, the sheer amount of silverware on the table had. He had gotten used to using the chopsticks that his aibou used, but they were nowhere to be found. There were three forks, two knives and two spoons laid out before him. He had no idea how a person could need so much cutlery. He shared a covert glance at Mokuba across the round table they had been seated at. The other, noting just what was causing his distress, motioned for him to work his way inward. Yami gave a small nod to show he understood.

"Kaiba-san, I've been waiting for forever for you to introduce me to your guest," the woman who had been seated at their table said. She was an African beauty; tall, lean, with her ebony locks put up in hundreds of braids. The turquoise dress she was wearing looked absolutely stunning on her.

"He needs no introduction, my dear," the man immediately next to her said with a small smile in his direction. Even dressed as the man was in a suit there was something decidedly professor like about him. "If you ever bothered to spend time with something other than your charity you would recognize him. Yuugi Mutou, am I right?" Yami sighed. He was so often mistaken for his other, mostly because Yuugi had allowed Yami to use his name in order to enter tournaments seeing as he had no way to verify his name to enter under his own. He was thankful when Kaiba decided to come to his aid because he had no story ready to explain exactly who he was to Yuugi.

"Close," Seto said sipping a little of the water that they had set out as they got everyone seated. "He's actually his cousin from Egypt. He's been staying with them for a while now." Seto knew one thing about lying: the simpler the lie the easier it was both to remember and to be believed. The woman nodded and offered her hand over the table.

"I am Lumiere Smithfield and this is my husband, Jonathan Smithfield. We run Games for Bombs," she said as Yami shook her hand. Seto had given him a brief rundown of what the charity was about seeing as he was going to have to sit through several this-is-what-your-money-is-going-towards speeches. Games for Bombs worked mostly in Africa by uncovering landmines left by the various wars that plagued the continent and giving out learning games for the children in an attempt to improve education. It sounded exactly like something that Kaiba would support.

"Atemu Mutou," Yami offered his name with a smile. Seeing as Kaiba had wanted to go with the whole from Egypt bit his real name would be more believable. "But everyone calls me Yami," he added. He didn't use his real name in conversation for a myriad of reasons the most important of which was the memories that were brought up the second it had been said. Lumiere smiled at him, clearly charmed by his frank tone, but before anyone could say anything there was the sound of a chair being pulled back. Seeing as Yami was seated directly next to Kaiba and the new person was sitting on the other side of him, he was unable to see her for a moment, but when she was he noted that she was very pretty with her dark black tresses piled up in a complicated series of knots held together by a pair of chopstick and her white Chinese dress. Her dark eyes, however, were hard and cold.

"Sorry I'm late, Kaiba-kun," she said dismissing her hosts as though they didn't exist. Yami frowned at the almost fanatical gleam in her eye when she looked at Kaiba. "Traffic in Tokyo is a nightmare this time of day." Kaiba stiffened as he came face to face with Yuki for the second time that day. He hated the familiar way she used his name, but knew it was nowhere near what she had called him earlier in the office. He saw the way her eyes shot to Yami for a second before coming back to his. The rage in them was faintly satisfying. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your little friend?" she asked though the word friend was spat out like it was poisonous. Yami felt his own ire spark a little at what he knew was a jibe about his height. It was not his fault that his people had been on the shorter side.

"Of course," Kaiba said doing the bare minimum he could get away with, "Yami meet Yuki Slade. Yuki Slade, Atemu Mutou." It was clear that she recognized the name with the way that her eyes narrowed at him. Kaiba prayed to god that Yami would be able to handle her subtle jibes without loosing his temper. Kami knew that Seto had a hard enough time with it himself.

"You're one of those people Kaiba-kun meet through that ridiculous card game, aren't you?" she asked. Her tone was politely curious but the way her eyes blazed told Yami just what she thought about 'those people'.

"I would hardly call it ridiculous," Yami said drawing on all the regality that he had learned in his brief stint as pharaoh, "but, yes, we met through a duel." She made a vague noise of understanding and reached for her water glass. Jonathan's eyes lit like a Christmas tree at his words.

"You duel?" he asked rhetorically. "You should enter the charity tournament that my wife and Mr. Kaiba have been setting up for forever." Yami blinked at the invitation, looking at Seto out of the corner of his eye. When had he been planning on telling Yuugi-tachi about this? They most certainly would generate a lot of ticket sales by entering and he knew Kaiba was aware of this fact.

"You know nothing is set in stone about it," Seto said stiffening as he felt a hand on his knee that was slowly creeping higher. It was on the wrong side to be Yami's and he really couldn't do anything about it without giving away what Yuki was doing. He had too much pride to live with the consequences of informing the rest of the table of what she was doing however inadvertently they would be informed. Yami noticed the tension that was suddenly in the other's shoulders and could bet he knew the cause of it. His eyes darted down quickly and found the source of Kaiba's discomfort. His vision clouded with red. Realizing what she was doing made something snap a little in his mind. It didn't matter that this was just a charade put on for their mutual benefit, for a period Seto was his lover, however fake. Carefully using putting his napkin on his lap-the food was being served now that everyone had been seated- he reached over Seto's lap and pinched her hand hard enough that she retracted it barely covering a wince. Yami ignored the glare she was aiming in his direction and rested his own hand on Kaiba about mid thigh. He had had far worse glares aimed in his direction before.

Kaiba felt a little of the tension in his shoulders ebb out as whatever Yami did forced Yuki to remove her hand. It had been distracting and not in a good way. He had barely managed to restrain himself from removing it himself, consequences be damned, as she had started running her nails up and down his thigh. He actually found, as dinner wore on and Yuki sulked about her setback, that he didn't mind Yami touching him. It was comforting in a way. That was until about mid dinner, when Yami started to absently run a finger back and forth along the seam of his pants. The movement was doing what Yuki had attempted earlier in getting his body to react. He used a break in the conversation to excuse himself from the table with the guise of needing to use the men's room.

Yami tilted his head and had to fight back a smirk as Seto excused himself. His eyes locked directly with the bitch in the chair next to Kaiba's and he allowed the self-satisfied smirk to grace his face at her look of pure hatred. He had done it for two reasons: one- to see if he could get a reaction and two- to prove to Yuki that he could triumph where she had failed. His nature was too competitive to let him just be happy with getting her to remove her hand; it had been a compulsion to prove he could do it better than her. He turned back to the conversation briefly, before excusing himself. Kaiba had been gone for more than a minute and Yami wanted to make sure he wasn't angry with what he had done. It wasn't like he had exactly asked for Seto's permission.

* * *

Kaiba was not in the bathroom, however. He was leaning against the wall just outside the building in a shadowed spot where no one could see him unless they knew he was there. One hand was covering his eyes as his other was fisted at his side. He hated weakness in any form and he had long felt that his body's often inappropriate reactions to certain things was just that; a weakness. Which was why he was currently attempting to think business figures and pie charts in order to get rid of any evidence that Yami's touch had an affect on him. That was another can of worms in and of itself. His only reaction to Yuki's deliberate attempt to get a rise out of him-no pun intended- had been anger and disgust. He hadn't minded Yami's touch at all. As a matter of fact, his body had adjusted itself to give the other more access.

Seto slammed the side of his fist against the wall, ignoring the pain that traveled up his arm from the motion. Why had his body reacted to him and not Yuki? Surely, if it was purely a biological reaction, his body would have reacted the same whether it was Yami or that bitch touching him. If he bought into that argument, however, it meant that he was at least a little bit attracted to Yami. The idea was absurd. Yami was male. Not only that, but he was his rival, his ultimate competition. Never mind the fact that, as he looked back on their past encounters, he had never felt more alive than when he was around him. That he could chalk up to the adrenaline left in his veins from dueling. The argument still felt hollow to him, though. He was so goddamned confused.

"Seto?" Kaiba started as he heard his name coming from the source of his confusion. Surely he hadn't been gone that long. He removed his hand from his eyes and the movement brought him to the attention of the other. Yami walked over. Something had told him that if the other wasn't in the bathroom that he had to be out here somewhere. He wondered if Kaiba knew how good he looked leaning against that wall. It was the prefect picture of the bad boy from a manga brought to life. Seto waited until Yami was right in front of him before he spoke. "What do you want?" The words came out a little harsher than he had intended and he winced.

"I came out here to apologize," Yami said frowning. He should not have done what he did if Kaiba's reaction was anything to go by. Not that there was much of a reaction; just a tightening around the eyes and a slightly lost look to his eyes-a look that was quickly replaced by surprise.

"For what?" Kaiba asked leaning slightly off the wall. Yami sighed.

"My actions. I should not have touched you like that no matter what…," Yami trailed off and looked to the side. It had just hit him what the two words that ended that sentence would sound like. He didn't want Kaiba to completely clam up in him. Seto, on the other hand, was confused. Was Yami really apologizing for what was an accident? It wasn't like Yami had started with giving Seto an erection as his goal. Or had he? Kaiba narrowed his eyes at the way Yami was refusing to meet his eyes. Immediately, he felt the confusion turn into the much more familiar anger and he grabbed onto it like a drowning man a piece of driftwood. He opened his mouth to let Yami have it, to remind him that they were in a public place-which, oddly, was his only big concern, not that he was going to think about that right now-only to be interrupted by a small peel of laughter.

"So there is trouble in paradise," Yuki's voice had them both turning to face her. She was standing a few feet away in the dark a triumphant smirk in place. They both were running over everything that had been said, trying desperately to make sure that nothing they said could be taken as an indication they were not together. "I just find it ironic that you chose someone so beneath you, Seto-koi," she said as she sauntered towards them. "I would've thought that you would at least go for a high class whore to put on your little charade. How much is he paying you? I'll double it for you to disappear." Yami felt his temper flare and with it the shadows. He was thankful that it was dark and they where in the shadows as it helped to cloak them. Yami was many things, but he wasn't a whore nor was he low class. He was Kaiba's friend, and while he was getting something out of the arrangement he was largely doing this out of friendship.

"Shut up, Yuki," Kaiba said stepping between her and Yami. It wasn't out of a need to protect the other so much as it was to prevent the scandal that would ensue if she went missing. "I'm not paying him anything." Yuki lifted an eyebrow at his statement, clearly not believing him.

"So you want to play at this 'relationship' being real," they couldn't see the sneer but they could hear it in her words. "Prove it." The second the challenge was out of her mouth, Yami was moving. He didn't think beyond the fact that she had issued a challenge and he was going to best her at it. He reached up and grabbed Seto's tie, pulling him down the couple of inches that Yami could not reach standing on his toes. He sealed his lips over Kaiba's, pleased as the other recovered from his shock quickly and started to kiss back. He felt Seto's hands snake down to the backs of his thighs, nipping the other's lips as Seto grabbed his ass briefly, and lifted him up so that the position wasn't so awkward. Yami linked his hands behind Kaiba's head and wrapped his legs around his waist for support. Oh, Ra this felt good.

Seto wasn't sure what he was doing. He had been startled at the furious way that Yami had attacked his lips before remembering that they were putting on a show. He lifted Yami up to avoid the kink in his neck that was taking away from the pleasurable feeling of their lips meeting and was surprised when Yami wrapped his legs around his waist. Now that they were a better angle, he tentatively ran the tip of his tongue along the seam of Yami's lips. He wasn't sure what had possessed him to do it, but the second that Yami opened his mouth he was invading it with his tongue. The little groan Yami gave at the action went straight to his groin. It wasn't long before Yami was fighting back and invading Kaiba's own mouth.

So absorbed in what they were doing they failed to hear the disgusted noise that came from Yuki's throat or the sound of her heels as she walked back inside. The two were so far gone in the moment that they forgot that they needed to breathe until their lungs began screaming for air. They broke apart panting, Seto still supporting Yami with his hands on the backs of the other's thighs. Kaiba had never felt anything like that before. Sure, he had been kissed. Occasionally some nut caught him off guard and they managed to get a kiss in before he could react, but it had been nothing like that. Absently, his mind still trying to puzzle out what made that kiss so amazing, he began trailing kisses down the side of Yami's throat.

Yami let him, trying to take advantage of what he could get before the other realized what he was doing and dropped him. There was a high chance that once Seto's higher brain functions came online again Yami would never be spoken to again, whether he had been fulfilling his purpose or not. Kaiba's kisses were like a trail of fire down his neck and he bent his head back a little to give him more room. It was then that he noticed their audience was gone and it was probably in their best interests to get back to the table.

"Seto," Yami said trying to the other's attention. The other hmmed against his neck and the vibration sent a shudder down his spine. He reminded himself that he would be in even deeper shit if Seto didn't make it back to the table in time for dessert. "She's gone and we need to get back…" He felt Kaiba stiffen against him and mourned the loss of the other's mouth on his neck. He caught a brief look of something darkening the other's eyes before they were back to the normal cold state that had heat flooding him. Yami felt Kaiba easing his support away so he unhooked his legs, sliding down the other's body so that he was on his own two feet.

"C'mon," Seto said as they walked back inside. They took a moment in the hallway to fix clothes and such before they went back to the table, both trying to act like nothing had happened out there. Nothing at all.

* * *

Reviews:

Deltalight: I'm glad that you find my OCs to not be too much. I get so nervous writing them because they are so poorly done some times. Thanks.

Kessaris: I give you more.

TheReivewGiver: Thanks for adding me to favorites. It's always a huge compliment. Prideshipping has to be my Yugioh OTP. I think it's the only couple that I still religiously read in the Yugioh fandom. I'm glad 

that I'm capturing the characters right. It's a delicate balance between them and what my lovely friend wants in the story. She's already demanding smut. She doesn't understand character development at all.

Barrie 18: Glad you like the tone of the story. Thanks for the review.

Akira Muratake: I'm glad you get the little bit of humor in the story. I'm always told I have an odd sense of humor.

Kittylove: Here's what happens next. I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the last.

Snape Goes Commando: I love your name. I broke into a fit of giggles when I read it. I hope you're still loving this. Thanks for the review.


	3. Chapter 3

Kaiba groaned as he opened his eyes and closed them again. He was awake because of habit, never mind the fact that it was his one day off. He had asked Risa to schedule in some Mokuba time and she had informed him that unless something drastic happened he really didn't need to come into work on Saturday. He made to roll over and found himself falling off his bed. Frowning, and wondering how he could fall off a bed so large, he sat up to find he wasn't in his bedroom at all. On the contrary, he was still in the study part of his room and had been sleeping on the white couch with his laptop fan whirling away on the coffee table next to it. He only moved over to the couch when he knew that he was going to fall asleep working-numerous backaches after having fallen asleep at his desk had forced him to realize that he needed to do something. But, as he scanned his memories of the work he had been doing, there was nothing terribly pressing to get done. Why, then, had he chosen to work himself to the point where he needed to use the couch instead of the bed?

Seto hit his head against the side of the coffee table gently as the memory of the dinner came flooding back. His mind was always sluggish pre-caffeine. He had chosen to act like he had a large amount of work to do so that he could avoid the awkward situation of being in the same bed as someone he had made-out with hours earlier. It didn't help that he was having a hard time rationalizing it in his mind. He was desperately clinging to the fact that it had been initiated because of a challenge by Yuki and he never backed down on a challenge. That rationale couldn't hide the fact that they had carried on after Yuki had returned to the party or the fact that he had been most reluctant to stop. So what had him acting like a hormone driven teenager? He shot rim-rod straight as the thought hit him. He was a teenager; holding onto seventeen by a mere six months. He so rarely acted like a teenager it was easy for even him to forget that he was one. It helped to explain why he had acted like some kind of sex deprived maniac. He had suppressed his hormones so long it was no surprise that the second they had an opportunity to escape his control they went a little over the top.

Kaiba stood and closed the lid to his laptop, telling it to sleep, before deciding that he would go down to the kitchen and see if the cook was in. Now that he had solved the question that had plagued him through the night-more than content to chalk it all up to his hormones finally catching up to him- he was in a good mood. It was a mood good enough that he would be sending the cook home so he could make breakfast for everyone himself. Maybe he would even look into something fun for him and Mokuba to do. He was halfway down the stairs when he remembered that it was not only rude, but would ruin his carefully put together façade of a relationship with Yami if he didn't spend some time with just him. What on earth did they have in common besides dueling and a need to protect the ones they cared for?

* * *

Yami woke to the heavy smells of cinnamon and vanilla. It seemed that someone was cooking something. He sat up with a groan and scanned the room for Kaiba. He remembered that after changing into something more comfortable, the other had wanted to get some work done and gone into the study. He didn't remember Seto ever getting in bed. Not that he would've likely woken. He had slept like a dead thing and currently felt like a dead thing had decided to make his mouth its resting place last night. He made a face and walked into the bathroom. He flicked on the light and opened the cabinet to get out the toothpaste and his toothbrush. He was in the process of putting the toothbrush in his mouth when he saw it. Charlene had insisted that men did not need to wear a top to bed, but sleeping in sweats was right up with drowning puppies in her book. She had gotten him to by a pair of bright crimson satin sleep pants, leaving his chest bare-which was the reason he could see the dark bruise that had formed just above where his shoulder met his neck.

He put the toothbrush down and pressed on it with two fingers to make sure that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. The answering small twinge of pain confirmed that he was indeed sporting a hickey. He began to call Kaiba every name under the sun, none of which were remotely good. It was just high enough that half of it would peek out of his collar if he tried to use it to cover it. He leveled a glare at it through the mirror as he felt the gentle inquiry of Yuugi as to what had him so mad. Sighing he picked the toothbrush back up and decided that he would get rid of morning breath before anything else.

_I'm sorry, aibou_, Yami sent down the link.

_It's alright. Is everything okay? You're not going to force Kaiba-kun into a penalty game are you?_ Yuugi asked sounding concerned. He was well aware of what happened when his dark got overly angry. The fact that they had lost three toasters in his other's quest to get a piece of toast that was not burnt attested to just what his yami could do when provoked.

_No. I'm not going to do anything that drastic_, Yami said entertaining the idea of how much joy he would feel at sending Kaiba on a brief stint in the shadow realm. He wouldn't, but the imagery made him feel a little better.

_What happened?_ Yuugi asked more curious now. Yami frowned before spitting in the sink. He hesitated for a second. He never kept anything from his other, but it was sort of embarrassing.

_He gave me a hickey,_ Yami finally decided to just be blunt about it. He winced at the laughter on the other end of the link. He hardly thought it was funny. _Aibou…_ The laughter cut off at the tone, but the amusement was still present.

_Sorry, Yami,_ Yuugi said after he caught his breath. _I thought your relationship with Kaiba-kun was supposed to be fake?_ Yami frowned at the question as he followed his stomach's advice and headed down to the kitchen.

_It is_, Yami told him as the mouthwatering smell got thicker the closer to the kitchen he got.

_Then how…?_ He heard his other sigh and wondered what was frustrating him. _Never mind. I've got to go. Jii-chan is calling me for breakfast._

Yami felt the link close as he walked into the kitchen. Sunlight was streaming in the windows and a brief glance at the clock told him that it was just past seven in the morning. Mokuba was up and bouncing around the kitchen trying and failing to snatch one of the cinnamon rolls off the tray sitting on the stove. Seto was standing guard in front of them in a pair of black sleep pants, a mug of black coffee in his hands. A small smile graced his face at Mokuba's antics. Both of them looked up at he entered.

"Finally! I was ready to get you up myself," Mokuba said crossing his arms and doing his best imitation of his brother's glare. Yami had to fight down a smile. Mokuba couldn't manage the right level of coldness to pull it off right. "Nii-sama said that we couldn't eat until you were up." Yami's eyes flickered to Kaiba at the words.

"Really now?" Yami said watching as Seto moved so that he wouldn't be plowed into by Mokuba's enthusiasm to get the biggest cinnamon roll. Yami couldn't help but be amused at the way Mokuba had tried to emulate his older brother. He wondered briefly if he had had any siblings, but squashed the thought before it went too far. He had so few memories of his past that he was not going to tarnish them by poking at the blank spots. Yami took the roll and plate that Mokuba handed him on the way to the bar. Yami joined him while Seto just leaned against the fridge door watching. It was odd to observe his brother interacting so well with someone other than him. He had made a point of never being around when Yuugi-tachi was, so he didn't get to see his brother with other people often. He watched as Yami tore a piece of the roll off and put it into his mouth absently. The surprise on his face at the taste was comical.

"This is really good, Seto. Can I get the recipe from the cook?" Yami asked and Seto couldn't help the smirk. He was immensely pleased with the fact that Yami like his cooking. Mokuba was stifling a snicker behind his hand. Yami heard him, however, and turned to look at him. "What's so funny?"

"The cook didn't make these. Nii-sama did," Mokuba said as surprise lit Yami's face. His own cooking skills were small; almost exclusive to the few desserts Isis had been kind enough to give him over the phone in an attempt to give him something of home. It had never crossed his mind that Kaiba might know how to cook. It seemed like something that would be beneath him. But, the amused look of almost triumph that Seto was wearing only confirmed the fact that he had indeed cooked them.

"I can give you the recipe if you like," Kaiba offered making it sound like it would be a chore for him. Yami glared at him as he put another piece of the roll in his mouth. Even the other's superior attitude couldn't overshadow the taste. Yami summoned as much dignity as he could. There was no backing down now that he had asked.

"I would. Yuugi loves sweets," Yami said and watched some of the triumph leak out of Kaiba's eyes as he thought that Yami was only asking for Yuugi's sake.

"Ne, Yami?" Mokuba asked suddenly serious. Yami turned his head so he could look at him. Sure that he had Yami's attention he continued. "What happened to your neck?" Yami felt color flood his face as he tried to find the right answer. Kaiba's eyes ran over the other's neck trying to find what Mokuba was talking about. His eyes widened almost comically as he realized just what Mokuba was asking about. There was no way that was what he thought it was. Surely he hadn't been that far gone. Right? More importantly, why was there a feeling of satisfaction just under the mortification?

"Your brother," Yami answered evenly. He would let Mokuba think whatever he wanted to. He ignored the hostile glare that Seto was currently shooting in his direction. His brother was just in middle school. Seto needed to keep his brother's innocence as long as he could. He was already dreading giving him the talk. Mokuba blinked for a second before looking at his brother.

"Nii-sama! You should be more careful in your sleep. I know that you move around a lot, but surely with a bed that big…," Mokuba admonished his brother much to Yami's amusement. True he had only spent one night in the same bed as the CEO, but the other had hardly moved at all. Where was Mokuba getting this from? Seto had to fight the relief flooding his body in order to keep it off his face. His brother's innocence was still intact.

"I'll try," Kaiba said dryly as he finished the last of his coffee. "I'm going to go take a shower. Why don't you think of where you would like to go today, Mokuba?" His little brother nodded vigorously in response. Yami watched Seto leave wondering if he was invited to spend the day with them or not. He really didn't want to intrude on their time together.

"You can come if you like, Yami," Kaiba offered as he made his way to the doorway. Yami shook his head at the invitation.

"I think I'll spend a little time with Yuugi and the others," Yami said and Kaiba nodded.

"I'll assign you a driver," Kaiba said and then was gone. Yami shook his head as he continued to eat his cinnamon roll. He didn't need a driver. He was more than capable of walking.

* * *

Yuki was beyond furious. It had taken her years to work on her father in order to make him realize that selling to Kaiba Corp was the best option, and months after that to add her little clause to the contract. She had wanted the cold CEO from the time he had showed up in her father's office attempting to coax her father into selling. There was something about him that made her think that just maybe his genius could meet hers. All her careful work, however, had been blown to microscopic bits by the other's need to not be saddled to anyone. Just remembering the trollop he had chosen instead of her made her sick. How could he stand to touch someone who looked like he belonged on stage with some freak show?

Her breath was coming in harsh pants as her rage escalated at the thought of that man. She had to do something about him, but every search she had done on him had come up clean. No address. No phone number. No records at all. It was like he was some kind of ghost. She growled and the weary PA who had been standing in the corner since she had come into the office last night started. Yukie didn't even spare her a glance. She had thought that the name might be fake, an alias to throw her off his trail, but when she had searched Mutou she had gotten someone different. Oh sure, they looked the same on the surface, but she had imprinted the bastard's face in her mind the second she had realized he was standing between her and her goal. The differences in appearance had screamed at her: the little bit of extra blonde in Yami's hair as opposed to this Yuugi, the different shade of red in eye color, the slight tan to his skin, the extra couple of inches.

But she had to start somewhere. She had people watching this Yuugi's house. If Yami showed up there she would know. The second she knew that the two were related, for there was no other way for this Yuugi to look so like Yami, she would have what she needed. She would have leverage. All Yuki needed was for Yami to disappear and she would have a straight line to Kaiba. She knew that his pride would not allow him to drop out of the final contract signing whether this farce blew up in his face or not. A cruel smile lit her face as her plans solidified. She had backed Kaiba into a corner and knew that he was fighting back. The only thing was he didn't know how far she was going to force him into that corner. She pulled out a bright pink razor phone, pressing the speed dial button. She was about to make sure that Kaiba felt the walls of the corner most acutely.

* * *

Yuugi had been watched before. Just like anyone remotely famous he had acquired his own stalkers. Yami had usually dealt with them via a penalty game if they turned out to be the bad kind, no longer killing but curing through the banishment of their darkness. That was how he knew that the two men loitering around the newspaper stand across the street from the shop where up to no good. He bit his lips as he wondered what they were after. There was no Yami here for a penalty game. He could impose one if he so desired, the puzzle responded to his commands just as much as it did Yami's. He was far too kind to actually do it, though. He would much rather have them leave of their own free will. He almost jumped when he felt the soft inquiry from his other. He couldn't help the anxiety that leaked through the connection along with his greeting.

_What's wrong?_ Yami's voice was sharp. He had little tolerance for anything that made Yuugi the least bit uneasy. Yuugi eyed the two men again from the open door of the shop.

_I'm not sure._ Yuugi offered it along with the picture of the two men. He heard his yami draw a breath at what he saw and winced. _They've been there all morning. I'm not sure what they want._

_I know exactly what they want_, Yami growled. Yuki had given him her version of a warning last night as they were waiting for the driver to come round. She had smiled at him as her driver opened the door for her. "_I'm sure you have a charming family, Mutou-sama. I should meet them sometime."_ Yami had dismissed it at the time, but now that Yuugi was sending him pictures of thugs hanging out in front of his grandfather's store he knew what she had really meant. He also knew that the only reason that they hadn't been kidnapped or harmed was because she was still unsure that they were related. It could be disastrous if she got the wrong people.

_Yami?_ Yuugi asked becoming concerned at the growing level of anger on Yami's part. He had really felt that level of rage from him. Something very bad had to be going on.

_Don't worry, aibou. _Yami did what he could to squash his anger at that horrible woman. Maybe he should just impose a penalty game on her even if it would cause a scandal for Kaiba if her mind went on a permanent vacation. Yami felt his other get distracted as the phone rang in the shop. He was surprised to hear the tomb robber on the other end. Yuugi generously fed him their conversation.

"Midget, I assume you have some way to get a hold of his holiness?" the spirit of the ring asked gruffly. Yami bristled at him calling his other a midget, but let it go as he was not part of the conversation.

"Of course," Yuugi said wondering what could prompt the other to call him.

"Then you might want to inform him that the priest is cheating on him. Big time too, from what the media is saying," the amusement in the spirit's voice was thick. Now Yami knew why he was calling. Bakura wanted to get as much joy out of causing him pain as possible. It would make sense that he would delight in being the one to break the news to him. Not that Yami had a clue as to what the other was talking about.

"Thank you," Yuugi said softly as the dial tone was heard. It was just like the thief to pop in and out like that. _Yami? Do you know what he meant by cheating on you?_ Yuugi asked with concern flooding his voice. Yami shook his head for a second before remembering that Yuugi wasn't there and couldn't see him.

_No, but I will find out._ Yami closed the link as he opened his eyes to the living room he had taken residence in so that he could tell his other that he was coming over. He reached for the remote and turned on the large flat screen TV that had been disguising itself as a piece of modern art. He was pleased to find it on a news station and horrified to find an army of reporters camped out just beyond the gates to the mansion. He was glad that he hadn't tried to call for his driver and leave. There was no way it would get through that throng. Once his shock at the sheer amount of press outside wore off he paid attention to what the reporter on screen was saying.

"It appears that one of the most eligible bachelors of all time has finally decided to settle down. Seto Kaiba, one of the two heirs to Kaiba Corporation and the man responsible for the company's change in markets, is engaged," Yami blinked as he wondered how the press had managed to a hold of that information so quickly. "We have no idea of the dates, but his bride-to-be has confirmed the engagement. Yuki Slade has even gone so far as to send out invitations to the engagement party." Yami felt his blood turn to ice in his veins. It was followed almost instantly with a choking rage. _How dare that bitch!_ He shoved his hand in his pocket and pulled out the cell phone Kaiba had given him. He scrolled through the contacts until he found one labeled Seto cell and hit the call button. Seto picked up almost instantly.

"Kaiba," he said and the sound of children laughing in the background could be heard. It was clear that Mokuba had decided to spend the day at Kaiba Land after all. Yami felt his rage increase as he realized that he was going to have to take away from the brothers' time together to deal with this. He hated to have his time with Yuugi interrupted.

"It's Yami. There's an entire army of reporters camped out in front of the gates," Yami said but was interrupted as he took another breath to continue.

"Hold on," Kaiba said and a second later the sounds of the theme park became muted. "What's going on?" he asked and Yami could almost hear the switch from Mokuba's older brother to the calculating businessman.

"They've found out you're engaged," Yami said letting a little of his anger drip into his next sentence. "Only they believe it's to Yuki Slade." You could've heard a pin drop after he finished his statement. He would bet money that Kaiba's eyes had gone glacial like before he had shattered the other's heart. He knew that although Kaiba had made a concerted effort to not be that person any more, pieces of it still lurked under the surface. Events like this tended to bring the persona even more to the forefront.

"I'll be there in an hour. Don't leave the house and stay away from the windows," Kaiba didn't even bother to say good-bye as he hung up the phone. Yami closed his own cell and continued to watch the television coverage, the shadows restless around him in his rage.

* * *

Seto was in a controlled rage. He hardly ever got angry enough to have his rage cloud his judgment. The few times it had happened had either been because Mokuba was in danger or when Yami pushed enough of his buttons. Right now he was channeling his rage at the falsehood Yuki had spread into thinking up some way to salvage the situation. It didn't matter that he had people who had been doing this all their lives working for him. He wanted to have something to bring to the table when he got a hold of them. He walked out of the employee's only area he had walked into to drown out the noise of several thousand children having fun at his theme park. Normally the thought that he was bringing this joy to them filled him with ease at the knowledge that a little bit of Kaiba Corp.'s legacy was changing. But, today, he was too absorbed in thoughts to notice.

"Nii-sama?" Mokuba asked as he saw how hard his brother was thinking. He knew something had gone wrong, whether it was the business or something else. He had long ago recognized his brother's problem solving face. He wondered who had called his brother and made him wait outside the door for him to finish the call. He felt disappointment begin to creep in as he saw the remorseful look on his brother's face.

"I'm sorry, Mokuba," Seto said feeling like someone had dropped the weight of the world on his shoulders. It was a common feeling and he was all too used to it, long having to put his brother on the back burner for some crisis or another. He hated doing it though. "But we're going to have to leave," Kaiba said already scrolling down his contacts for the driver.

"What happened?" Mokuba asked as he took his brother's hand so that they wouldn't get separated in the press of human bodies around them.

"Yuki leaked a lie to the press. She told them that we were engaged and now they've swarmed the house," Kaiba said as he nodded to the attendant standing next to the exit. He was glad that the driver was already waiting for them. Mokuba was shocked at the information. Why on earth would she have done that? They were barely in the limo when Kaiba was dialing the number for his publicist. He needed damage control _now_.

"Kaiba-sama," Sai's clipped tone came over the speaker phone application, "I take it you have gotten word about the announcement?" Kaiba glared at the phone in his hand. He didn't have time to deal with her sarcastic humor at the moment.

"I need options, Sai," he told her. There was a pause on the other end of the phone.

"I can give you a few. She's really tied our hands with this one," her voice was admiring. Sai, like most in the higher level Kaiba Corporation positions, loved a challenge. "We can act like nothing is going on and leave them with the one-sided information. We can announce that you are indeed engaged, but not to her and start a media war as they try to get pictures of this mystery woman. Or, and this is really the option that I prefer, we can dispute her claim that she is engaged to you, confirm that you are engaged, and leak Mutou-sama's name out through our own contacts." Kaiba thought over his options frowning. They had wanted to get Yami's name out gradually so that it wouldn't look like he had just appeared in Kaiba's life. Yuki had made that impossible now.

"Who do you have in mind to leak the name to?" Seto asked as he sat back in his seat and rubbed his temples. Why could he never have a decent day off?

"Kyo Kim," Sai said without any hesitation. It was clear that she had put some thought into the last option. Kaiba closed his eyes as he thought about the reporter. The man worked for _Forbes _and had done several pieces on Seto over the years. The man was shrewd but he had made his views on what he called the vulture press more than clear. He would be the best option for getting Yami's name out there without having to worry about too many private details being exposed.

"Fine," Seto said wishing he could make the car go faster. The last thing he needed was some photographer getting a picture of Yami through one of the windows.

"I've set up a lunch meeting with him. He said that he can have the story up on the website within three hours of the interview," Sai said glad that she had predicted the right move from her employer.

"Now that that's settled," Mokuba said as his brother looked at him in surprise, "Can I make a suggestion, nii-sama?" Seto nodded for him to continue. Mokuba was young but he was still the vice president of the company and sometimes had surprising insight to things. "I've been thinking about why Yuki would do something like this and the only thing I can think of is that she wants us on the defensive. You're being forced to react to the press right now. I bet she would like nothing better than to watch you squirm."

"You think I don't know this?" Kaiba said as he sighed. Mokuba just grinned.

"Of course you do, nii-sama. I just wanted to suggest that you act like there is no press attempting to tear down the privacy fence. Once this interview is over continue on like nothing happened. Continue with whatever it was that you were planning to do with him later," Mokuba said proud of himself as he watched his brother nod in agreement with what he said.

"Do you have anything against that, Sai?" Kaiba asked knowing that just because he could see nothing wrong with what Mokuba was saying didn't mean that someone else wouldn't.

"No," Sai said softly. She was getting on in years to be dealing with this. "Before I go I just want to remind you to have Yami fill out the questionnaire that the legal department came up with. It'll help him keep his story straight and we can start providing him with some kind of paper trail."

"Ah," Kaiba acknowledged. "Goodbye then?" Sai replied with her goodbye and Kaiba was left with his thoughts for the rest of the car ride home.

* * *

Yami hung up after talking to both Joey and Honda as he heard the Kaiba brothers walk inside. The mansion had incredible acoustics. You could hear someone yelling on the first floor in the furthest corner of the second. Yami had called both Honda and Joey to see if they would mind looking after his light and making sure that whoever it was that was watching him would disappear. He knew that he could count on them to keep Yuugi safe as long as it had to deal with physical enemies. He heard his name being called by Kaiba and moved so he stood in the doorway of the living room he had been sitting in.

"I sincerely hope you have some kind of plan, Seto. I don't understand the rules of this world enough to flesh out any kind of full scale strategy," Yami said sounding a little put out as he said the words. It pained him to have to admit that he was without some kind of plan. The modern world operated on a whole different set of principles than the ones he partially remembered. The idea of a representative government, for instance, was completely novel to him.

"Of course I have a plan," Kaiba said as he and Mokuba made their way into the room with Yami. He couldn't help the little bit of joy he felt out of having a plan where Yami didn't. It was rare enough that he almost wanted to take a second to savor it. "We're going to give an exclusive interview to a magazine and then pretend that the reporters don't exist," Seto said as he looked for something in the entertainment center. Yami frowned at the plan. It was simple, almost too simple. He doubted that the monster that the media was would be satisfied with just one interview. He remembered the ones he had been forced to give pretending to be his aibou after major tournaments. One of the interviewers had asked him about his relationship status and whether he preferred boxers or briefs. He had refused to answer either question. If they were willing to go that far on an interview about his being World Champion, he could only image what they would ask him about being Seto Kaiba's boyfriend. Kaiba made an ahah noise as he found whatever he had been looking for. It turned out to be a sleek little mini laptop that looked to be about the size of a single subject spiral notebook.

"Seto, that plan is not going to make the media go away," Yami pointed out as the other sat next to him on the caramel colored couch and started booting up the computer.

"Unfortunately, there is no way to get rid of them now that they know. We were planning on feeding them gradually, but that's been shot to hell, so we're going with plan B," Seto said as the computer finished loading and he began to do something on screen. Yami found himself shooting a glare at the thing. He liked to have someone's full attention when he was talking to them.

"What are you doing?" Yami asked sounding a little disgruntled. Seto looked up from the computer at his tone wondering just what was annoying the other.

"I'm loading up the legal department's questionnaire for you. We're going to have to build your existence pretty fast now that they are going to know about you. Reporters will be looking for any kind of possible dirt on you that they can find. If you come up as not existing it's more suspicious than having a couple blotches on your record," Kaiba explained as he offered the computer to Yami. Yami didn't take it.

"Seto, I don't think you want me to touch that," Yami said looking at the computer. "I do fine with duel disks and platforms, but my knowledge of actual technology is very limited." Kaiba snorted thinking that Yami was joking, but as he met the other's eyes he realized that he was deadly serious. He groaned. So much of his life was involved in technology that it was hard for him to imagine someone not knowing the basics of computers and such.

"Why don't you just read the question out loud and type in the answer yourself, nii-sama?" Mokuba suggested from where he was watching the coverage of his home in amusement. Kaiba nodded and didn't bother to look at Yami to see if he agreed. Yami frowned at this but decided to let it go for now.

"Fine," Seto said turning the computer so that it was now facing him. "How old are you?" Yami tilted his head as he thought about the question. He was half tempted to answer with his real age, but had a feeling that Kaiba would not appreciate the humor at the moment.

"Eighteen give or take a couple of months," Yami replied. Isis had found the years in which he was both born and died and extrapolated his age to be around sixteen when he died. It had been a couple of years since Yuugi had completed the puzzle, so he tacked those onto his age. Kaiba nodded.

"Do you know your birthday or should I make something up?" Kaiba asked and looked up from the computer. Yami sighed. Common sense told him that he could not share one with his other seeing as they were supposed to be cousins. The actual date meant little to him either way seeing as it was one of those things that he had not gained knowledge of in his attempt to learn about his past.

"Make something up," Yami told him. Kaiba nodded and looked at something else on the screen.

"Do you know how to drive?" Seto asked. Yami blinked and shook his head. Neither Yuugi's grandfather nor his mother owned a car, preferring public transit, so he had never really seen a need to learn. Not that he wasn't curious about the subject.

"No," Yami said shaking his head. "But, I think that I would like to learn." Something flashed in Kaiba's eyes before he nodded and moved on in his questions. They had very little time before the two of them had to make lunch with the interviewer.

* * *

Yami sat in the private room that the restaurant had given them and did his best not to fidget. The place was stuffy and practically screamed I have money. It didn't help that they seemed to have their own private set of staff. They kept staring at him. He had feeling that it probably had something to do with the contrast he presented to Seto. He was in a pair of rather tight blue jeans, a buttoned down red shirt, and the biker jacket from the night before along with three belts, his choker to help cover his love bite, and boots. Seto, on the other hand, was in a pair of white slacks and a dark green dress shirt. He also had a feeling that his hair was not helping him score any points, either. Kaiba watched how uneasy Yami was with a bit of surprise. He knew that Yami had been subject to over the top opulence before-any society that had people running around with the amount of gold that tablet had shown them wearing and have it considered normal had to be opulent.

"Is something wrong?" Kaiba finally asked Yami curious as to what had him practically squirming in his chair. Yami glared at him as though to say _you know what is wrong with me_. He was saved from having to actually answer as the reporter chose that moment to walk in. Kyo Kim was a man well past middle age with a comb over and rather round glasses. He wore slacks, a dress shirt and a tie. In one hand was a small tape recorder and a small pad of paper was in the other. He gave off a sense of someone who was being rushed and used to it. He offered Seto a nod in greeting as he looked over to Yami, who had followed Kaiba's lead and stood when the other had walked in.

"It's good to see you, Kaiba-sama," Kim said as he offered his hand to Seto. "I hear that congratulations are in order." Kaiba let out a weary sigh as Kim said that and Yami noticed how the other seemed to pick up on that at once, though he said nothing.

"Kim-san I would like for you to met Yami Mutou," Seto said gesturing over to Yami who offered his own hand in greeting. Kim's handshake was firm and quick.

"A pleasure," Kim said with a nod of his head as they took their seats. The waiter was quick to get their orders and rush off to the kitchen. "What is this meeting about, Kaiba-sama? All your people would tell me was that you were offering me an exclusive." Kaiba motioned for the other members of the staff to leave and only spoke once they were outside the door.

"It's about my engagement," Seto said and Yami watched eagerness creep into the reporter's eyes.

"Oh?"

"It seems that the tabloid reporters got it wrong as usual," Seto told him as Kim put his recorder on the table between all three of them and turned it on. His pin was poised over the small notebook, waiting for Kaiba to go on. "I am engaged, just not to who they think I am."

"Those half-bit paparazzis never do. Who are you engaged to then?" Kim asked as he made a note on the paper. Seto opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off.

"Me," Yami said as the reporter turned his gaze to him. He blinked several times as his mind seemed to process what had been said and the fact that Kaiba was no disputing this fact.

"You're gay?" Kim asked as he turned his attention back to Seto. Seto nodded once and Kim's pen made scratching noises on the paper. "How did you meet?" Kim asked taking Seto's answer in stride.

"On accident I assure you," Seto said relaxing into his chair a little more. Yami shot him a look.

"I would prefer saying it was fate. I was visiting my cousin, Yuugi Mutou, and we happened to end up at Kaiba Land. Seto thought that I was my cousin and challenged me to a duel. The rest is history, so to speak," Yami took a sip of his water and wondered at the way that the lies spilled out of his mouth. He never knew that he could be that good of a liar, but the reporter seemed to be eating it up.

"Who won?" Kim asked and was curious at the way their eyes met across the table.

"It was a tie," Seto said as he looked back at the reporter. They hadn't discussed it, but he hoped Yami would be okay with his answer.

"Do you have any idea as to why Yuki Slade would tell the press that she was engaged to you?" Kim asked looking right at Kaiba. Seto met his eyes without any hint of a lie in them.

"Not a clue," Seto said. Kim nodded. The rest of the interview and meal was spent with Kim asking Yami all sorts of questions about himself, though none of them were the kind he had dreaded. Yami found that he liked the other man quite a bit. Something about him seemed to put him at ease. Soon they were ready to exchange their goodbyes.

"I must admit that I'm quite impressed with you, Kaiba-sama," Kim said as he shook Seto's hand in farewell. Seto raised an eyebrow in question. "You're about to either loose all your business partners or have your profits shoot through the roof. Not to mention that gay business people all over the world will be watching to see what happens when you come out of the closet. You'd be surprised at the number who go into unhappy marriages just to keep their sexual preferences secret. I wish you both the best of luck." He shook Yami's hand before he was out the door. Yami had never thought about what they were doing in that light. In his mind it was all about saving Seto from an undesirable situation, and he knew it was all business for Kaiba. They weren't trying to make ripples in the business world with this.

* * *

Yami was sitting in the car with his eyes closed as Kaiba drove the two of them back to the house. The car was pure Kaiba: sleek, silver and fast. It seemed that Kaiba Corp. had even dabbled in the area of car design, though it didn't really surprise him. Charlene had mentioned a fashion line when he had gone to get his clothes and he knew that Kaiba Corp had branched into the special effects business for several upcoming movies. With Kaiba Land finished, and a few more around the world poised to open soon, Kaiba had decided to expand the corporation's portfolio. Yami opened his eyes as Seto made a left turn where he knew that he should've made a right. They were getting on the interstate.

"Seto?" Yami asked as they merged with traffic, though Kaiba was quick to leave the other cars behind.

"Hmm?" Seto asked knowing that he needed to concentrate on driving more now that they were going at much higher speeds. He loved the interstate and the speed that it allowed him.

"What are you doing?" Yami asked watching as Kaiba shifted gears seemingly without thinking.

"Acting like the media doesn't exist," he said cryptically with a smirk, never taking his eyes off the road. Yami rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I meant, where are we going?" Yami snapped. He really didn't care for surprises seeing as most of the ones that he had experienced were bad.

"You said you wanted to learn how to drive right?" was Kaiba's only response.

* * *

Yami looked around himself in shock. They were literally in the middle of nowhere. Grass stretched for miles in every direction with only an odd telephone pole to tell was present to tell you that you really were moving. Seto had parked on the shoulder of the road and was insisting that Yami take the wheel. He didn't seem to care about the fact that Yami had never driven so much as a go-cart.

"Come on, Yami," Kaiba said as he dangled the keys in front of the other's face. "It's not like there is anything out here that you could really destroy." Yami made a face at the comment and narrowed his glare at the other.

"This is completely ludicrous," Yami said shaking his head no.

"I just think that you're too scared," Kaiba said with a sneer. "Has the king of games finally met a challenge that he cannot win? Defeated by his own fear." The look Yami shot the CEO was murderous. He snatched the still dangled keys out of Seto's hand, ignoring the smirk of triumph on the other's face. The two of them got out of the car and switched places. Yami adjusted the seat so that he could reach the pedals, glaring as the difference in their height was shoved his face yet again. He stuck the keys in the ignition and was about to start the car when Seto's hand closed over his own to stop him.

"Don't you at least want to know the gas pedal from the brake? Or better yet, how about how to shift out of park?" Kaiba asked amused. He knew that Yami was more than capable of driving which was why he was pushing it so much. Yami practically growled at him and Kaiba's smirk just grew. He loved getting under Yami's skin. He showed Yami the break and the gas, telling him that he would have to push the break down in order to shift out of park and into drive. He also made sure that Yami could see out all the mirrors.

Yami stored all the information that Kaiba gave him, treating it like the rules of a game. He started the car, noting the muted purr it made. He put his foot down on the break and put his hand on the gear shift in between the two front seats pushing in on the small button to move the marker to the little D. He looked out the windshield and eased off the brake. He hadn't even hit the gas and the car was moving. Startled he slammed back down on the brake. He shot a glare at Kaiba as he snickered.

"I'm glad you're enjoying this so much," Yami said with venom. It was not funny! How was he supposed to know that the car would start moving the second that he lifted his foot off the brake? Seto stopped laughing and cleared his throat in a gesture for Yami to continue. Yami eased off the brake and turned the wheel so that the car was off the shoulder and onto the road. Carefully he eased onto the gas; going at what he thought was a decent speed.

"You can give the car some gas, Yami," Kaiba said as he realized that Yami was more than content to stay at barely twenty miles an hour. Yami's hands tightened on the steering wheel and he slammed his foot down on the gas in response. Both of them were nearly thrown back in their seats as the car went from twenty to one hundred twenty miles per hour. Even worse was the fact that they were coming up on a curve.

"Brake! Brake!" Kaiba shouted as he realized there was no way they were going to make that curve at the speed they were going. There was a horrible screeching as Yami slammed on the brake, slamming the two of them against their seatbelts. The car had no chance of stopping in time and they ended up off the road and in the grass. Yami barely remembered to shift the car into park before he rested his head against the steering wheel, panting. It was a minute before he remebered that there was even someone else in the car. He whipped around so that he could see Kaiba with his eyes closed and rubbing his collar bone where the seatbelt had prevented him from going through the windshield.

"Are you okay, Seto?" Yami asked reaching out to touch him. One bright blue eye opened to look at him before closing.

"I'm fine," he said allowing Yami to touch his shoulder in concern. He was certain that he was going to have a bruise in the shape of his seatbelt come morning, but wasn't going to tell Yami that. "A little less on the speed next time you take a curve, ne?" Yami took his hand away and frowned at Seto.

"Next time? There isn't going to be a next time. I nearly killed us!" Yami said wondering at just what went on in the other's head. Seto just shrugged and opened his eyes.

"A minor setback," Kaiba said his smirk creeping back into place. "Unless you want to admit defeat?" Yami growled and crossed his arms. His pride would not let him admit defeat regardless of how close the two of them had come to being wrapped around one of those telephone poles. He could not let Kaiba be better than him in this.

"Fine," Yami growled out as he held down the brake and shifted them into reverse. Carefully, he backed the car back onto the road and put it into drive. He was glad there was no traffic as he eased into the correct lane.

"The speed limit is fifty-five here," Seto said softly as he watched the scenery, such as it was, go by. Yami increased his speed until the speedometer read the correct speed. He was fine as he held the car in the middle of the lane with concentration. He was coming up on another curve, however, and couldn't help but feel a little nervous. "Slow down a little as you take the curve," Seto instructed and Yami slowed enough to take the curve without moving over in the lane. They continued on in this vein, Seto giving Yami instructions as needed and Yami following them. There were no more incidents like the first time Yami had tried to follow the curve of the road. They finally stopped as the sun began to set, pulling over on the side of the road to watch the beautiful mish-mash of colors around the orange sun.

"Thanks for teaching me to drive," Yami said as he leaned back so that his weight was on his hands as he sat on the hood of the car next to Seto.

"I hardly think that you're done learning. You have yet to be out in traffic…," Kaiba said turning so he was looking at Yami with a smirk. The rest of his comments died on his tongue as he looked at the other. He looked heavenly bathed as he was in the various red, pinks, and oranges of the sunset. They highlighted his hair and skin, making it look like shimmering bronze. Yami turned to look at him, clearly wondering why he had stopped talking. Kaiba cleared his throat and looked back out at the sunset. "I will admit that you have improved, though."

"No thanks to the teacher," Yami said teasingly. In actuality Kaiba was a very good teacher; knowing when to give instructions and when to let Yami do things on his own. The time they had spent driving and the sunset seemed to have mellowed them both out as Kaiba's only response was grunt. Yami moved so that he was leaning on the other a little, the same way he would had he been Yuugi or even Joey. Kaiba looked him out of the corner of his eye but made no move to lean away. They sat there in companionable silence, both of them enjoying the moment. The sun was just a sliver above the horizon when Seto's phone rang. Yami jerked away from Kaiba, having slowly moved so that a majority of his weight was against the other. Seto made no comment though he noted how warm he felt where Yami had been leaning against him.

"Kaiba," he answered the cell phone wondering what had gone wrong now.

"It's me, nii-sama," Mokuba's voice came over the phone line. "I was just wondering whether or not you and Yami were going to be home for dinner." Kaiba looked over at Yami who was watching him with interest, clearly wondering who was on the phone. They were quite a ways away from Domino thanks to having Yami drive in only one direction. It was unlikely that they would make it back in time for dinner if they left right now.

"I don't think we'll be home for dinner, Mokuba," Seto said with a sigh. He had taken the day off to spend with his brother and ended up doing other things instead. He felt guilt over the time he had spent with Yami flood his stomach. "I think we might even be late getting home," Kaiba admitted as he waited for disappointment to fill Mokuba's voice.

"Okay, fine," Mokuba said his voice sounding amused instead of disappointed. "I'll order a pizza and you two be sure to eat." Kaiba wondered just what his brother was so amused at. What was going on with him?

"Alright then, Mokuba. I'll see you when we get back," Seto said as Mokuba returned his parting words. He closed his phone and put it back in his pocket. Yami watched him waiting for an explanation about the phone call. "That was Mokuba asking if we would be home in time for dinner," Seto said as he stood up. He was amused to note that Yami was the same height as he was sitting high on the hood of the car. "I think we should probably start heading back," Kaiba said offering Yami his hand to get off the car seeing as his feet were dangling a ways off the ground. Yami took it and jumped down. Unfortunately, he landed on a rock that was resting on the shoulder of the road and his inertia sent the two of them crashing into the grass. Kaiba let out a sound of pain as Yami ended up pressing down on his new bruise.

"I'm sorry," Yami said as he braced his hands on either side of Kaiba's head to elevate the pressure of his weight. Kaiba looked at Yami above him in the fading twilight and was struck with an odd thought._ I wouldn't have to lift him if we kissed like this…_ His eyes grew wide as he realized just what he had thought. It didn't help that Yami's face was inches away from his own and his lips looked so very tempting.

"Get off me," Kaiba practically growled and Yami was off him and sitting into the grass next to him. Seto sat up and closed his eyes. He needed a moment to rein in the hormones he had spent so much time suppressing. His control was somehow rendered hair thin whren he was in close proximity of the other. He would hate to see what would happen if he snapped. Yami watched as Kaiba tried to get control of himself wondering just what was going on. He ran over everything that had happened and couldn't think of anything he had done wrong. It only took a few seconds for Seto to get control of himself and stand up. This time he didn't offer Yami a hand up as he made his way to the driver side of the car.

* * *

Reviews:

Moongirl21: Thanks!

Deltalight: I agree that the two of them are on the same level. I hate it when someone has to kill a character's personality just to make them fit into the typical seme/uke roles. What happens in the bedroom does not always translate into what happens while outside it. By the way, what country are you in? I always get excited when I find out that someone from another country is reading my work!

Barrie18: To answer some of your questions… Yuki really didn't kill off her fiancé. She's never even had a relationship since Kaiba tried to by her company the first time. Risa just knew that Kaiba wouldn't present his case in the right light so she did it for him in a non-invasive way. As you've seen in this chapter, that doesn't mean that Yuki is above hitmen or the like to get what she wants. There was an attraction mentioned, very small one, in chapter one when Seto was changing into something casual to wear before dinner. I'm glad you mentioned it though. I was afraid my beta had cut it without telling me. Yami's memories of the past are very sketchy. I'm ignoring the Egypt Arc all together, I believe, in favor of what I think should've happened to lead to these events. Yami gained some of his memories with his body, but they are almost all having to do with shadow manipulation with brief, often confusing and random memories of the past. As for whether or not the priest and 

Yami were involved… You'll have to wait and see. I'd like to mention that Bakura referred to Seto as the priest because he sees everyone in their past rolls more than there current ones.

Mikkimikka: Hope you still like!

Kittylove: I haven't defined uke and seme rolls yet. I prefer to let that happen naturally than try to force them into one or the other. Yami just reacted before Kaiba could get a word in edgewise about how they didn't have to prove anything to anyone. I think Anzu will be popping up soon, and I'm still working out the details on the charity tournament. Mostly on who will be there. Thanks for the review.

Snape goes Commando: Oh yes, everyone knew that something was up when they walked in. They were just to polite to say anything about it. –snicker- Glad you got a laugh out of it though.

Hikari rio: Providing your fix for the craving. I'm aware that it is a bit AU, but anything that has Yami in it after the Egypt Arc is. Course I've modified that too so it's more than slightly AU…

Salkiethia: Thank you so much! You totally made my day with your review! I understand the whole putting HW off for fics… I'm guilty of it a lot. –shifty eyes-I think that I'm going to be rather quick about my updates seeing as I have someone badgering me for it all the time. It does take time to come up with 8,000 or in this chapter's case over 9,000 words. I have to agree with your favorite scene. I had a lot of fun writing it. I hope that you're still enjoying this!

Blueberry: I give you more in exchange of your love!

Akira Muratake: Glad someone is hating my villain! I hope you get some laughs out of this one too.


	4. Chapter 4

a/n: Okay, kiddies, this is where the story begins to earn its M rating. While there is no out right smut (there hasn't been enough character development for that) there is at least one racy scene. I warned you so don't be blaming me for eyes being burned out or fainting from nosebleeds.

* * *

Kaiba knew that he was dreaming. The knowledge didn't change his course of action just like any other dream where you knew you were dreaming. It was actually a pleasant if pointless dream. There was a soft wind that rippled the surrounding grass like waves and a single tree that's soul purpose was to provide shade for him. He could hear the sound of running water and knew a creek was nearby without having to look. He was lying under the tree with his eyes closed, content to not be moving for once. He decided that this was pretty nice as far as his dreams went. Most of the time his dreams, when he did have them, were closer to nightmares than actual dreams. He had no clue how long he laid there before he heard the sound of approaching footsteps. He opened his eyes and sat up. Standing next to him was a smirking Yami. He was dressed the same way as he had been in Battle City, and for some reason this didn't seem the least bit odd to him. He brushed it off as dream logic.

"Yami?" he asked when the other moved to sit down. Only he didn't sit next to him, he sat on Kaiba's lap with his legs on either side of his hips. Seto was thoroughly confused. What the hell was he doing? Yami's only response to his name was the fact that his smirk turned into a full-blown smile. What the hell was going on? Yami reached over to grab his chin before leaning in and kissing him. Kaiba felt his eyes go wide in shock before closing. He felt himself respond before questioning it. He only got so far as the knowledge that it was a dream before he decided that what went on in his head was harmless. As soon as he decided it was okay to be kissing the one man he had always wanted to defeat, he rolled them over so that he was on top. Surprisingly, dream Yami gave no protest, just opening his lips so that Kaiba could get a taste of him. He let out a soft moan as Yami sucked on his tongue in a manner that strongly suggested something else. He broke the kiss to run kisses down the other's neck before cursing the other's choker for cutting off the skin he was in the process of tasting. He moved to take it off but came up short as Yami hooked his legs around Kaiba's hips and thrust up once. The shock and pleasure of the action was enough to bolt him awake.

He looked at the ceiling of his room panting like he had just run five miles. What the hell had that been? He screwed his eyes shut as the real Yami, who had once again snuggled into his side with one leg laced through his, shifted. He knew the other was still sleeping from the evenness of his breathing, but it did little to calm the raging erection between his own legs. He was no stranger to waking up aroused, he was a teenaged male, but he had never had a dream like the one earlier to precede it. Or, if he had, he had not remembered them once he had opened his eyes to greet the day. With a sigh he moved his head so that he could see the digital clock on the nightstand. It read three-thirty. It was early for him to get up, but he knew that there would be plenty of paperwork waiting for him at the office. Careful not to disturb Yami, who he knew from the past two days would not be up before nine, he slid out of bed and walked into the adjoining bathroom. He made sure the door was closed before turning on the lights.

His mind was on autopilot as he turned on the shower and waited until it was the right temperature before moving to sleep out of his sleep pants. He cursed as he did, his sleep addled mind having forgotten the reason he had woken up so early in the first place. He stuck his hand back into the shower and turned it all the way to cold with a frown on his face. His day was already turning out bad. He stepped into the shower and let out a hiss at the temperature. Showers being one of his little indulgences he had installed one with five different heads; one on the top and four underneath so that it hit his entire body at once. That meant that he currently felt like someone was jabbing very cold needles into his skin as he stood there and waited. And waited. He glared down at himself as he realized that his normal method was not dealing with his problem. Cursing he closed his eyes and thought of Pegasus in a Speedo to try to make it go away. He nearly gagged on the image, but still remained stubbornly hard. He was not going to use the last method of getting rid of it. He was not so base as to resort to that. But, he noted gritting his teeth against the cold, his erection was still painfully evident.

Cursing colorfully enough to make a sailor blush, he turned the knob over to the normal temperature he showered at. He could not believe he was going to be doing this. How could his body be betraying him like this? He gripped his cock as the temperature began to warm decently. He felt the small pleasure run up his spine at the friction he began to create. He was brutal, angry at the fact he was forced to resort to this. Eventually, he began to give into the pleasure, his pace slowing as he used his thumb to play with the tip before running back down the shaft. His eyes fluttered closed in order to better feel what he was doing. He hated the enjoyment he was getting out of something so rudimentary, but it didn't stop him from thrusting into his hand as he got closer to reaching his peak. His pace speed up again and his breath came out in pants. As he came, mind surrendering to the pleasure of orgasm, one image danced behind his eyelids: tan skin, eyes the color of the finest red wine, and wild tricolored hair.

* * *

Yami knew that he was once more dreaming a memory. It happened time from time, a memory from the gaps of what he had learned would come to light in a dream. Most of the time it was inconsequential things like him learning how to write or having dinner with foreign heads of state. This one seemed even more so. He was in the gardens and just walking. It was twilight and Ra had blessed them with a beautiful sunset. Vaguely, he wondered if that was the trigger behind this dream, the sunset he had witness during the day. His hand trailed along the leaves of a green bushy plant he was walking past, enjoying the peace of this memory. He heard the sound of someone talking near him. The voice was familiar and he found himself wondering towards it absently. He discovered that the voice was coming from a place off the path and he scanned through the thin leaves of the short palm trees looking for its source.

Surprise ran through him at what he found. In the small clearing created by a grove of trees was his high priest. He was pacing back and forth, his headdress in one hand. Yami had to suppress his snicker as it was evident that the other was suffering from hat hair. The moment of amusement was quick as the agitation in the other's movements could be seen. He was talking to himself, almost as though he was trying to convince himself to do something or not.

"It's been three months and it still hasn't gone away. Not even the slaves are helping anymore. It's gotten to the point that the eunuchs in the harem are spreading gossip about me having a type," Seth paused here to run his hand through his hair and rock on his feet. "But I can't tell him. It's unseemly. Assuming that he doesn't laugh in my face, it's still treason of the highest order. Maybe not against him, but certainly against the priesthood. I took oaths." He was pinching the bridge of his nose now in a gesture that was very much like the one that Yami had seen Kaiba make before. It was odd how some things stayed the same no matter the era. "Even if I was willing to break my oaths, the price for being caught… Why did it have to be him? I feel nothing for eighteen years and all of a sudden it's full on love." The last sentence had Yami stiffening in horror. Oh, no. He knew that it was wrong to be listening in on the other's personal problems, but it was even worse to be listening to him having love troubles. He knew, pharaoh or not, the other would kill him if he knew that Yami had heard something like this. Like Kaiba, Seth guarded his privacy with everything he had. That was likely why he was doing this in gardens and not in his room where the attendants could hear. He came out of his thoughts as he heard the distinct lack of talking. He found himself staring into the other's eyes. He had been discovered. _Shit._

Yami woke to the sound of a phone ringing. Groggily, he sat up wondering what that memory had been about. It seemed important for some reason. He got off the bed as the phone rang again and ran around looking for it. It had to be important if someone was calling him on his phone. He found it in the pocket of his jeans from the day before and flipped it open without looking at the caller ID.

"Yami," he said suppressing a yawn. What time was it anyway? He found the digital clock and noted that it was around eight in the morning. It wasn't too ungodly early.

"It's Kaiba," the caller said and Yami noted absently that his voice sounded even better over the phone. "I have, at the request of my publicist, invited several of my stockholders to spend the day on the yacht." Yami frowned as he sat back on the bed. What the hell did that have to do with him? Yami had no interest in Seto's stockholders. He wasn't even sure what one was.

"Okay…?" Yami said his mind still trying to come up with a reason for the phone call. Maybe Kaiba was telling him that he was going to be late coming home? That sounded reasonable enough.

"I'll pick you up in half an hour," Seto said sounding like he was going to hang up.

"Wait! What do you mean you're going to pick me up?" Yami said before the other could hang up the phone. Kaiba heaved a sigh. He thought he had explained it already. Then he remembered the fact that Yami had very little to do with the business world.

"You're coming with me. The stockholders' wives will be coming too. Now that you're my significant other, that means you have to come," Kaiba explained leaving out the part where he would be leaving Yami with them so that he could assure his stockholders that his 'sudden interest' in the other would not affect his performance as CEO. Kim's article had gone over fairly well. It had reduced the press's sudden obsession with his love life for the moment and had mostly left his stockholders and business partners curious to meet him.

"Oh," Yami said as he realized what Kaiba was saying. "I'll see you then, I guess."

"Aa," Seto said as he hung up. Yami closed his phone and left it on the bed. He ran into the bathroom to speed through his morning routine. The only thing that threw him for a loop was what he shoulder wear. What did one wear on a yacht? How formal was this supposed to be? He bit his lip as he thought over what he should wear. He let out a sigh of relief as he remembered that Mokuba was still home. He should know what he was supposed to wear. He was running through the house looking for Mokuba the second the thought registered. He found him sitting in his pajamas in the middle of what looked like a game room deconstructed. Various cables ran haphazardly around the room which was strewn with game consoles that had been taken appear and put together badly in some cases. Mokuba looked up as Yami entered and smiled.

"Good morning," Mokuba said as he paused in putting back together something that resembled a gameboy. Yami returned the greeting without thinking about it.

"Can you help me with something?" Yami asked. Mokuba put the gadget to the side and stood.

"Sure," Mokuba said as he picked his way through the various wires till he was standing next to the other.

"You're brother called a minute ago and said that he was coming to pick me up to take me out on the yacht with some of his stockholders. What should I wear?" Yami asked. Almost instantly there was a gleam in Mokuba's eyes. A smirk lit his face and Yami couldn't help feeling that maybe asking for his help was not the right course of action to take.

* * *

Kaiba parked the car in front of the walk and sat in it for a moment. Earlier that morning had left something distinctly unsettled in his mind and he had a feeling that seeing Yami was not going to aid him. Sure he had imagined things while he had jerked off before, but never had he seen anyone who actually existed, let alone his male rival. He hadn't been able to get the image that had been conjured out of his mind; Yami's tan skin against his sheets, his body naked and spread before him. His knuckled went white as he felt himself stir. He would not do this. He had a business to run and another to acquire. He opened the door and got out, determined to only interact with Yami the bare minimum required. If Yami didn't like it, too bad for him. This was a business arrangement after all. More confident, he moved to open the door, only to have it opened by Yami. He froze at what he saw. Yami was wearing a dark purple zip up vest with no sleeves that hugged his frame snuggly. There was a large embroidered phoenix on the back. His jeans were a crisp dark blue with only one belt holding them up. A pair of black sunglasses rested on top of his head. He bit his lip nervously as he caught Kaiba looking at him.

"Is it okay? I had Mokuba pick it out…," Yami said and Seto felt his resolve snap back into place. Right, this was business. Even if he found himself jealous of the way those clothes hugged Yami's body.

"It's fine," he said flatly as he moved so they could get to the car. Yami raised an eyebrow at the attitude, but said nothing. Kaiba got in the car having to concentrate not to slam the door. He was going to kill his little brother. He kept his eyes on the road the entire time ignoring any attempts by Yami to make conversation. He needed to nip this in the bud and he was going to do it.

* * *

Yami was relieved when they pulled into the docks. He didn't know what was up with Seto, but he didn't like it. He thought that things had been going well. Surely, the other would've told him if something else had gone wrong with their arrangement, right? He got out of the car and pulled his sunglasses down against the glare from where the sun was reflecting off the water. It was a beautiful day. He stuck his hands in his pockets as he followed Kaiba through the docks to his boat. They had to use a key to even get to the private dock. The boat was huge, closer in Yami's opinion, to a small cruise ship than anything else. It was a blinding white with its name written in a blue font near the bow.

"Fate's Mistress, Seto?" Yami asked in amusement as they made for the small group of people milling around near it. "Why didn't you use master?" Kaiba looked at Yami out of the corner of his eyes and realized that he was genuinely curious.

"All ships are female," Kaiba explained before he was cut off by a gentleman in his late thirties.

"Kaiba-sama," he said warmly as he took the other's hand. "It's been forever since I got a look at this beauty. She's simply gorgeous." The man turned to look at Yami and seemed to size him up while still being jovial. "You must be Mutou-sama," he said offering his hand. Yami took it. "I'm Negai and this is my lovely wife, Mina." He gestured to a smile woman who had been standing slightly to his side. She offered Yami a smile that was truly warm. It seemed that everyone had been waiting for Negai to break the ice as they all came and introduced themselves. He got all kinds of carefully hidden reactions to his existence. Most were cautious suspicion, but Yami couldn't really blame them. He was a wrench in their carefully made plans. They boarded the yacht and almost instantly Kaiba and his associates were gone below decks, leaving him with several very nervous women. Cursing Seto for leaving him like this, he drew on every ounce of his training in how to deal with people. He offered them a smile and motioned them to the built in seating area. He was going to enjoy the nice day.

* * *

Anzu did her best to hide the depression she was currently feeling as she waited tables at the café were she worked. She had felt this way ever since Yuugi had informed her about Yami and Kaiba's relationship. She had tried her best to feel happy for the couple. She wanted nothing but Yami's happiness after all, but couldn't do it. Yami had told her repeatedly that he was not interested in her, but she still had held onto the hope that while he was single he might come around to liking her. That was why she was so heartbroken despite the smile on her face. She stuck her hand into her apron pocket to make sure her order pad was there as she made her way to the person in her section of tables. The woman was beautiful and something about her screamed money. It was odd to have someone like that in the small café.

"Welcome," Anzu said with forced cheer as she pulled her pad out. "What can I go for you?" The woman looked up at her with a smile.

"Are you Anzu?" she asked closing the menu that had been in her hands. Startled, Anzu nodded. "I've heard that you have a thing for Yami Mutou." Anzu clenched her pad as she narrowed her eyes at the woman.

"Who are you?" she asked thinking back to all the enemies they had made on their adventures. The woman could be working for anyone.

"Calm down," the woman said amused. "I mean you no harm. My name is Yuki and I believe that we have something in common." Anzu recognized the name and bit her lips in uncertainty. Yuki motioned for her to take the seat across from her. "What would you do if I told you that Mutou-san and Kaiba-kun's relationship was fake? That it was all a hoax? What if I could provide you with the means to end the charade and claim Yami all to yourself?" Anzu couldn't believe what she was hearing. Yami would never lie to them and neither would Yuugi. They were friends. But what if it was true? Could she let Kaiba take advantage of Yami's friendship like that? She wanted the best for him and being used by Seto Kaiba was not it. She sat down and Yuki smiled in triumph. It was amazing what she could learn waving money around in front of teenagers.

* * *

Kaiba was relieved when Negai suggested that they go up on deck and check on their others. He had spent the last hour and a half being grilled by his stockholders. None of them had gone so far as to question Seto's choice, but they had made it abundantly clear that if the stock took a sharp drop he would be in danger of being replaced. Money was the only thing these men cared about and they wouldn't hesitate to get rid of what they thought was bring them down. Kaiba blinked as he came back into the sunlight and hide his shock the best he could. Yami was surrounded by the wives and talking, of all things, deserts. The women appeared to be riveted to what he was saying.

"There is a distinct difference between Baklawa and Greek Baklava," Yami said glad that he had bothered to learn the recipe from Isis. It didn't help that he loved the stuff either. "Baklawa is not as sweet. It has a different syrup to it…," Yami trailed off as he noted the fact that the stockholders and Kaiba were back from wherever they had disappeared to in the first place. He glared as he saw Seto's amusement at the topic of conversation. It wasn't his fault that the women found him exotic and had wanted to learn everything they could about Egypt, and the only thing he really knew were the foods he knew how to make. He was certain they would think him crazy if he told them about the Egypt he had lived in.

"Hello, everyone," Negai said flashing a smile. "It's nice to see everyone getting along so well." Yami suppressed the urge to punch the man at the tone he used. He was talking to them like they were a bunch of three year olds still learning the meaning of sharing. None of the women seemed to mind the tone at all.

"Yami-kun was just giving us recipes for the most interesting deserts," Mina said standing and kissing her husband on the cheek. It was then that one of the stewards announced that lunch was going to be served and whether they wanted to take it on deck or not.

"The deck's fine," Kaiba said as the group around Yami began to disperse as wives went back to their husbands and began talking to one another. Yami stood and walked over to Kaiba who had moved so that he was leaning against the railing and looking out at the ocean.

"Thanks for leaving me with them," Yami said sarcastically as he joined Kaiba against the railing facing the opposite direction. Kaiba glanced at him for a second before turning his gaze back to the ocean.

"It's the reason I made this deal," Seto said dryly as he moved off the railing to where the crew had set up the buffet of finger foods. Yami frowned as he watched him. Something was definitely up with Kaiba. He wasn't going to bring it up with everyone on the boat, but it was really starting to frustrate him. Had he done something wrong?

* * *

Isis sighed in contentment as she stepped out of the shower and into the cramped hotel room she and her brothers had gotten for the evening. They had spent the past month out in the desert where water was too precious to waste on full out bathing. She was in her overly long nightshirt, hair wrapped in a towel. She frowned as she spotted her two brothers sitting in front of the small TV. It would stand to reason that the first thing the two would do when they got back to some semblance of civilization was zone out in front of the TV. She walked towards them, grabbed the remote off where it had been tossed on one of the two beds and switched the station to the news. She ignored her brother's huff of irritation.

"Hey, isn't that Kaiba's place?" Malik asked pointing at the TV. Isis frowned as she realized that was indeed his mansion.

"Turn it up please, Rashid," Isis asked sitting down on the corner of the bed to listen. Her eyes grew wider the more she heard the reporter say. The pharaoh and Kaiba were getting married? She hadn't been aware that the two of them had been together in the first place. God, she hated not having the ability to see the future anymore. It could at least keep her up to date on things.

"Hey, Isis," Malik said leaning his head against the bed so he could look up at his sister. "Why don't we throw the pharaoh a proper engagement party? I mean, it's not like he'll remember how to do it right…" Isis sighed as she pulled the towel off her head, letting her long black wet hair trail down her back.

"That's a great idea, Malik," Isis said sarcastically. "The only problem is we're in Egypt, not Japan." Malik stuck his tongue out at her and she had to resist the urge to hit him. She loved her brother, but sometimes he was too much.

"Ah, c'mon," Malik said giving her puppy eyes. "You know we have all those frequent flyer miles, and didn't you say something about wanting to see Yugi-tachi again? This is the perfect excuse." Isis sighed and rubbed her temples.

"Okay," Isis said and was nearly deafened by her brother's whoop of joy, "But only a couple days. We still have a dig to take care of here." Malik pouted, but nodded.

* * *

Yami sat on one of the couches in the study area of the room. He was reading a book on ancient Egypt and snickering at some of the facts they had gotten wrong. He wished he could correct some of the more grievous ones. Kaiba sat at the desk a little ways away doing something on his computer. Yami frowned as he thought of the other. Kaiba had been silent all through dinner, talking to him only when he was forced to. Even Mokuba had commented on it. Yami could come up with no reason for the other's behavior and that was driving him nuts. He admitted to himself that he kind of liked Seto when he wasn't being an ass. He was intelligent and full of surprises like when he took Yami out to learn how to drive. This change was creepy in its suddenness. Yami closed the book with a snap and stood to put it back on one of the many shelves in the room.

Kaiba was frustrated beyond belief. He had been trying to get through this accounting paperwork since he had sat down at his computer. It was tedious, but normally it only took him a little over an hour to do. It had been three hours. It didn't help that anytime he was getting somewhere Yami would shift or make a sound and he would start think about _other things_. Currently, due to the fact that Yami was on the couch, Kaiba found himself wondering whether or not the couch would give him enough room if the two of them decided to reenact his dream. He leaned back in the chair and was startled when his head came in contact with something soft. He jerked up right and turned around to find Yami standing behind his chair.

"That must be one interesting spreadsheet concerning that you have been staring at it for the past five minutes," Yami said with a smirk at Kaiba's reaction. Kaiba just glared and turned back to studying the spreadsheet. There was no comeback, no sarcastic remark. Yami frowned. Something was seriously wrong if Seto was not responding to him. He reached over the other's head, something he could only do when the other was sitting down, and closed his laptop.

"What the hell, Yami?" Seto growled trying to pry the laptop open with Yami's hand on it. Realizing that Seto would win in a contest of strength, Yami summoned the shadows and let them swallow the piece of modern technology. Kaiba looked murderous. "I need that for work. Do you have any idea of just what is on that?" Seto stood and towered over Yami. Yami put his hands on his hips and ignored the implied threat.

"You'll get it when you tell me what is going on with you, Seto," Yami said with as much authority in his voice as he could. Kaiba blinked at Yami. There was no way in hell he was telling him that he couldn't concentrate on his work because his mind was more interested in what positions he could get Yami into. There was no way he was even admitting that he liked Yami. He followed his arms and glared down at the other.

"What's going on is that you used one of your cheap magic tricks to make my laptop disappear," the CEO hissed. Yami shook his head and stepped closer to the other.

"Wrong answer," Yami said as he glared up at the CEO. Kaiba said nothing to this. His libido, however, was having a field day with the way Yami's eyes had darkened in anger. It wanted to know if Yami's eyes were that intense in the bedroom. Did they turn an even darker shade of red? Did he still have that love bite he had given him? Could Kaiba make more of them elsewhere? Yami watched in concern as Seto seemed to almost zone out. What the hell was going on with him? He had to find out, but first he had to bring him back to reality. He reached up with his hand to wave it in the other's face, only to have it snatched as Kaiba came back from wherever he had been.

"Don't do that," Seto said softly as he used the grip he had on the other's wrist to pull him so that they were flush together. Yami got nervous as he noted the intensity in the CEO's gaze. He had never seen them look like that outside a duel. It was frightening and at the same time incredibly sexy. "You want to know what's going on, Yami? I'll show you what's going on." Kaiba grabbed the other's chin and tilted it so that it was at the right angle when he leaned down to kiss him. Yami's eyes went wide in shock. What the hell was Kaiba doing? There was no one here that they had to pretend for, no one to put a show on for. _Did it really matter?_ A small voice asked as he closed his eyes. It was like at the charity dinner all over again. Yami was surrendering to the feeling, opening his mouth in answer to Kaiba's request and moaning at the invasion. Suddenly, as though he had realized what he was doing at the sound, Kaiba jerked away and moved so that he was against one of the bookshelves.

"Seto?" Yami asked softly as he watched Kaiba try to collect himself. A small bitter laugh reached his ears.

"You asked what was going on," Kaiba said his eyes hidden by his bangs. "You wanted to know. How does this sound, Yami? Ever since that kiss the other night I've felt weird around you. You've woken up a part of me I thought never existed," as he spoke Seto walked closer to Yami. "I thought that I could deal with it. But then, this morning, I had a dream about you that forced me into actions I have rarely had to take. I keep thinking about you to the point where my work is starting to suffer. Are you happy now?" Kaiba punctuated the last part by grabbing the back of Yami's head and forcing him into a brief bruising kiss. The second it ended the CEO was out the door, leaving Yami to stand there blinking. Had Seto just admitted to being attracted to him?

* * *

Seto didn't know what had come over him. He was sitting in the small control room for the house knowing that he wouldn't be disturbed. Mokuba was out for the night and he doubted that Yami would want anything to do with him after what had happened earlier. He touched his lips with the tips of his fingers as he thought of the kisses they had shared. The first one had been to appease an audience and Yami had started it. It had felt amazing, but he thought it was do to hormones, never mind the fact that the argument fell apart as soon as he remembered Yuki's actions during the dinner. The second one…His mind had been so far gone in its contemplations of just what he could do with Yami and then he had waved that hand in front of his face. Seto had reacted by acting out one of the milder ideas in his head. Even now he could taste the other on his lips and he craved more. He had even gone so far as to steal a kiss on his way out, thinking it might be the last one he could get. He hadn't run away. He hadn't. Kaiba needed time to cool his blood and collect himself enough not to act on anymore of his mind's misguided fantasies.

Kaiba groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. He had to figure out what was going on. His earlier explanations had been proved moot. If it wasn't just a hormonal reaction to the fact that Yami was there, then what was it? Love? He snorted at the idea. Please, he could barely stand him in the small doses his schedule allowed. He didn't get the warm content feeling when he looked at Yami like when he looked at Mokuba. Instead he felt an almost overwhelming need to spread the diminutive king of games over the nearest surface and claim him. There was no love there. He didn't want to make love to Yami, he wanted to fuck him raw so that he wouldn't be able to walk. He sighed at the reaction that his body was having to the thought. That was hardly love. Even as emotionally stunted as he was, Kaiba knew that love involved caring about the other person. Kaiba only cared about Yami as long as it involved the deal they had made. Was this lust then? Was lust what was trying to drown him the second he was in the other's presence? Lust, he knew, would run its course and leave him without these urges. Lust didn't involve love. Lust was carnal and about nothing but reaching satisfaction.

So he was in lust with Yami. Seto could accept that. He had needs that required satisfaction just like anyone else, even if they had been strangely absent until now. But, how was he going to gain what he was craving? He was honorable enough to not want to deceive Yami into thinking his emotions ran any deeper than the desire to satiate this new hunger. He highly doubted that Yami would respond well to him asking for a quick lay. The hunger to have the other was deep enough for him to know that once would likely not cover it anyway. He stood as he saw Yami wandering the halls searching for him. He would tell Yami everything and see how responded. He had already shot things to hell, what did he have to loose?

* * *

Yami had turned on the light in what appeared to be a home office and was going so far as to look in the closet to make sure that Seto was not there. Whatever had just happened he did not want the other to be alone. Kaiba had enough issues with his emotions that he knew Seto would think up some way to force Yami away. Yami looked up from where he had been looking under the desk as he heard a snort. Seto stood in the doorway leaning on the doorframe with his arms crossed.

"Do you think so lowly of me that I would hide underneath my own desk?" Kaiba asked dryly. Yami stood and crossed his own arms.

"I have long learned to expect the unexpected with you," Yami said as he rounded the desk so he was standing in front of Seto. Kaiba rolled his eyes at the cliché answer. Whatever. He had not sought Yami out to chitchat about trivial things. But how was he going to go about asking for what he wanted? He had never done something like this before. He was no virgin, his foster father had seen to that, but his experience was strictly with whores and Yami was not that.

"About earlier," Kaiba began, startling Yami in the fact that he was the one broaching the topic, "Could we carry this charade further?" Yami blinked at the question. What did he mean by that? Did he want to extend the amount of time Yami was posing as his fiancé? Whatever for?

"What do you mean, Seto?" Yami asked slowly as he let his confusion show on his face. Seto took a deep breath before taking the plunge.

"I want the physical aspects of this fake relationship," that was as close as he could get to explaining his want. Even that felt like he was pulling his gut through his throat. Yami blinked as the words found meaning in his mind. Surely to Ra, Seto was kidding. He searched the young billionaire's face for any hint that he was. All he saw was dead seriousness. With the knowledge of the fact that Kaiba was _not_ kidding came anger. He narrowed his eyes in a glare.

"You want to make me into a _whore?"_ Yami asked his voice a deadly whisper. Kaiba shook his head wondering how Yami came to that conclusion.

"That's not what I meant," Seto began only to be cut off.

"Then what did you mean _Kaiba?_ Because it certainly sounds that way to me," Yami said anger practically radiating off him. "What else do you call someone who sells their body for something? Because you would have me give you mine for a bunch of legal documents," Yami snarled out jabbing Kaiba in the chest from where he had come level with him as he spoke. Kaiba shut his mouth as he realized that Yami _might_ be right. They weren't friends so he couldn't be purposing they become friends with benefits. Even if he had not meant to treat the other in such a way he was.

"You want me, Kaiba," Yami said as he moved around the other, "You have to want the whole package. Let me know when and if you want an actual relationship. Not that I'm sure I would even bother with you." Seto winced as Yami walked past him and down the hall towards his room. He sighed and went back to the control room. From there he watched as Yami got ready for bed-after Yami's chastising he adverted his eyes when the other dressed. How had things gotten so fucked up so fast? He rubbed his eyes as he frowned. He was not supposed to want his rival. He was not supposed to care that he had gotten Yami upset with him. He could still feel where Yami had poked him. Where the hell had things gone so wrong? This was business; a quick little charade to keep that bitch Yuki from getting her way as he claimed the one company between him and having complete control over duel disk manufacturing. There was nothing in the agreement about something like this.

He sat stretching his mind into knots until he finally noticed that Yami had fallen asleep. With a sigh he figured he should do the same. He left the room and was silent as he opened the door to the bedroom. He moved to turn off the desk lamp that Yami had left on and froze as he noticed his laptop was sitting right were he had left it on the desk. He had completely forgotten about it. Why had Yami bothered to bring the machine back? Yami had made it clear that he was mad at him. He frowned at the puzzle until it occurred to him that it was likely so Kaiba wouldn't wake him in the morning demanding it. It was a way for Yami to not have to talk to him. Kaiba sighed as he walked into the bedroom and grabbed a spare pillow and blanket. It didn't feel right to crawl into the bed where Yami was. He made up the couch and prepared to have a fitful night of sleep.

* * *

Bakura was not the stalking type. He was more along the lines of an impulse thief. He saw something he wanted so he took it. He had never given a damn that it belonged to someone else. But when he had walked past the café where the friendship bitch worked and seen her talking to this woman he had waited. Sure, he had looked like he was busy reading the outside posting of the café's menu, but really he had waited the correct amount of time before taking off after his mark. He wasn't sure what had him following her. He was uninterested in the diamonds she wore on her throat and in her ears. He knew that they were likely unique and would be hard to pawn. But he had followed her all day and clean into the evening. He was currently sitting in a tree next to an office window where he knew she was. He had cracked the window- the woman couldn't tell with the blinds pulled as they were- and spent his time listening to her conversations. He was just starting to get bored when he heard the pharaoh's name. Suddenly attentive, he leaned closer to the window in order to hear.

"What do you mean you've found information on him? I thought he was a fucking black hole?" she was snarling into the phone. Bakura wished that he had had time to tap her phone line. He really wanted to be able to hear the other part of the conversation. "Never mind. What about the other one? Yuugi Motou?" There was a pause as the person on the phone responded. "Disappeared? How could they just disappear? It's not like the shrimp or his grandfather could hurt them. It doesn't matter though." Her voice could a sharp change from angered to pleased. "That's enough confirmation to me that they are connected. Put your best on it. I don't want him to so much as sneeze without them knowing." The former king of thieves frowned. He didn't like the pharaoh or his mini-me and often enjoyed inflicting minor pain on them when he could. However, just because he was able to do this did not mean others were. His mind worked feverishly as he tried to find a connection between this woman and Yami. He almost missed the words she spoke to herself.

"You are mine, Seto Kaiba," she cooed before breaking out in a mad cackled that would've made him proud. Bakura shimmied down the tree and headed for his hikari's place. He needed his rest if he was going to be breaking into the Kaiba Corp building. He had some questions he needed answered and the priest seemed like the perfect person to do the answering.

* * *

A little noted before we get to the review responses: I want to be clear about a couple things. 1- I don't believe that Kaiba would know romantic love if it bit him in the ass. I believe that he would react more to his bodily urges-hence his bundling of everything as lust. I also think his first reaction to any of this would be to put space between himself and whatever was causing it. However, he can't do that because of the fact that he's got to keep this charade going. 2-I don't believe-whether he wanted Kaiba or not- Yami would jump into bed with him at the first chance he got. He has too much pride to act like a common slut and jump into bed when he knows that his heart could potentially be on the line.

* * *

Reviews:

JewelValentine: I hope I managed to keep everything realistic and in character. Writing any kind of emotion besides anger with Kaiba is always a delicate balancing act. I just hope I haven't speed things up too much…

Barrie18: I just hope you like what had brewed between the two so to speak. There is so much more to come…

Moongirl21: I'm glad you love it and I'll try to update sooner than I have been. Work's a bitch.

Mikkimikka: I loved writing Kaiba teaching Yami how to drive. I actually had an incident like that while I was learning. I didn't get off the road because I freaked and braked hard. There were tire marks all over the road.-sweatdrop-

Kessaris: Yuki is about to reach a whole new level of irritating. She stops at nothing to get what she wants. There was some action in the chapter, so yay!

Akira Muratake: Remind me to never be on the road with you. I hope you patience has been properly rewarded.


	5. Chapter 5

Seto walked into his office closer to midnight than dawn. He wasn't there before the members of his staff who worked the nightshift- he had many branches in the western countries and that required monitoring through what was the night in Japan- but they all knew that Kaiba walking in early was never a good thing. It only happened when his mind was too busy working on some complex problem that it couldn't properly shut down for sleep. Such early morning entries often resulted in firings and a frightening quiet anger that told all his employees exactly why he was one of the most feared businessmen in the world. Even Risa, who had gotten a rather rude early morning wake up call, was tiptoeing around him. She normally had a good understanding of why her boss was acting like a modern day Machiavelli, but for once she was stumped. There were no crisis anywhere in the company that could be a possibility, and she knew that the media had relieved a lot of the pressure they had put on him thanks to the interview. She was not surprised when Kaiba demanded his appointment folder before walking into his office and dismissing her. Misery may love company, but Kaiba did not.

Seto had gotten no sleep that night. He had long trained his mind to take any problem and keep coming at it with different angles until it had some kind of solution. The times he had to actually put the training into practice he could count on one hand and mostly consisted of attempts at hostile takeovers, Mokuba's kidnappings, and defeating Yami. His brain came up short at the mention of the name. Yami was the current reason he had been deprived so much as half an hour of sleep. His mind had not been happy with the explanation he had come up with and the fight the two had before bed added to it. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he pushed open the door to his dark office. The second he flicked on the lights he knew something was wrong. He had always had a good instinct for danger, never mind the fact that he often found the danger an acceptable risk to take. He carefully gave no outward indication that he realized that anything was wrong. He put the folder in the middle of his desk and walked around it to climb into his high-backed desk chair. He was unsurprised by the knife at his throat the second he reached for the folder.

"You're pretty good, priest," Bakura's voice sounded from behind him and to the right, "But you stiffened for a second just before turning on the lights. You've got balls to act like nothing is wrong when there is potentially an assassin in your office." He sounded amused. Kaiba didn't even bother looking down at the blade he could feel against his throat.

"How did you get past security?" Seto asked inwardly applauding how calmly his voice came out. He knew that Bakura was certifiably insane and would likely have not trouble giving him an extra permanent bloody grin.

"Your security is people, Kaiba. People have flaws," Bakura said cryptically. Seto had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. He was so over dramatic. "But let's get to business. I had the most interesting mark yesterday…" Kaiba couldn't deal with the other when his mind had worked him into a compressed state of rage at his lack of ability to solve just what was going on in his private life. He didn't care if he bled out in his office. At least then his mind would stop working overtime on a problem he was beginning to think he didn't want solved.

"I am not interested in your misdeeds," Seto snarled out. Much to his surprise, Bakura only chuckled at him.

"You will be," he said darkly. "You see, I happened to hear her talking about you. Well, not just you but the baka pharaoh and his mini-me too. Not nice things either. I do believe she has someone following the shrimp." Seto's reaction was immediate. His eyes narrowed into a glare that could've lit ice on fire as a rage that rivaled that of his anger at Pegasus when he found out he had kidnapped Mokuba boiled through his veins. _That bitch!_

"Yuki," Kaiba snarled out loud. Bakura had been watching for Seto's reaction. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, but the look currently on the other's face had given him chills. He looked just like the high priest had when he had found out about the thief's intention to kill the pharaoh. That had not been a pleasant fight by any means. The former thief king removed the knife from the other's throat and moved so he was sitting in the chair opposite Kaiba's twirling the knife between his fingers. He knew that it would be a moment before the rage cooled enough for the other to think. He was getting a perverse kind of joy out of the fact that Seto was still so protective of Yami even now. He had reason to believe that something was up with their 'relationship' which made the protectiveness odd from the other man. Kaiba came to a second later and his glare homed in on Bakura. "I know your not telling me this out of the kindness of your heart. What do you want?"

"You honestly think my amusement at watching you realize what she was doing was not enough?" Bakura asked as he caught the blade of the knife between two fingers and tilted his head. Kaiba merely waited and raised an eyebrow in question. "You'd be right. Amusing as it is, there are things I want to know." Seto folded his hands on the desk top. He was back into familiar territory: negotiations.

"And what would I gain for telling you? What use have I of an insane thief?" Kaiba asked with no emotion in his voice. He was so far beyond anger that there was no word for it and he just wanted the other out of his office as soon as possible. Bakura just grinned wider.

"I know something that you are very much like the dragons you love. You hoard what is precious to you and, at the moment, Yami is very precious. You want her to hurt for even thinking of doing something to Yami through his family. You want her to suffer," Bakura's eyes stared off at the last, his voice almost seductive. "I can make it happen." Seto gave no outward indication of his thoughts as he pondered what Bakura was offering. Bakura was good enough to make it through his security, even the part that would require to be hacked in order for him to open doors. He would be more than capable of getting close enough to Yuki to cause damage. Not that he was contemplating physically hurting her. He wanted to hit her were it would hurt her the most: her pocketbook. It would be so much harder for her to prove that he had anything to do with it that way, and, well, Bakura was a thief.

"Before I agree to anything," Kaiba said and Bakura leaned forward in the chair, "I want to know what topic has you so curious as to offer your services in exchange." The thief touched his lips as he thought about his answer.

"I want to know what is really going on with you and the pharaoh."

* * *

Yami was dreaming again. He and Seth had relocated to his private gardens to afford more privacy. Seth hadn't come willingly he knew. He remembered vaguely, like his memory was water rapidly running through his fingers, that the only reason he had convinced him to come was by explaining that if he started yelling in the public gardens he was certain to bring the guard. Yami was sitting on a stone bench in the middle of the garden with Seth pacing between him and a fountain. It was now past dusk and the stars could be seen in the rapidly faded light. Seth was so angry Yami could feel it coming off him in waves, but still the other remained silent. It took Yami a minute to realize that the other was waiting for permission to speak his mind. While so much of Seth and Seto was the same the differences were startling. Seto would have started his tongue lashing the moment he knew that they weren't going to be disturbed.

"You have permission to speak your mind, Seth," Yami said and the other's head snapped up. "Here in this moment I am not your pharaoh. I am your friend who happened to listen to something I was not supposed to be privy to." Seth stopped pacing and looked him in the eyes for a moment before he exploded.

"What were you thinking? You know that if I wanted you to know about my personal life I would tell you. Not that I have much of one," Seth said the last bitterly. "The priesthood watches everything. Even you have more of a private life than I do. No one would dare question your choices of bedroom companion." Seth looked away from him and wrapped his arms around himself. Yami frowned.

"What do you mean about your choice of bedroom partner? The priesthood does not frown on gender or occupation as long as proper social tiers are observed," Yami said as he wondered just what his high priest was talking about. He felt a chill go down his spine at the laugh that Seth gave.

"How can such a divine being be so naïve? My oaths when I took this office were clear: I shall love no other above my country, hold no one higher," he quoted the vow in a mocking tone of voice. Yami's eyes widened in horror. His priests were not allowed to love in order to be impartial in their decisions. A cruel smile lit Seth's face as he noted the way that Yami reacted. "Do you know what the penalty for breaking this vow is? I will die and my soul shall forever be in your service as a monster tablet. So do you realize your freedom now? You are allowed to love."

"Why do you not abdicate, Seth? No one holds you to this position if you do not want it. Leave and be with the one you love," Yami said as he tried to think of some way to eliminate the pain in his childhood friend's eyes. Seth joined him on the bench, a small, sad smile on his face.

"I cannot. I have no rank beyond this. If I were to leave I would give up my ability to see him regardless of the pain it causes. Because, even though it is like someone is punching me in the gut every time I see him, the pain of when I don't is like having a piece of my soul leave me. I am stuck in between a rock and a hard place," Seth explained softly as he stared off at the fountain. Yami felt his heart go out to his priest. The tortured expression on his face was very close to the one Seto had worn when he thought of loosing Mokuba.

"Does he love you?" Yami asked drawing his priest's attention back to him. "Perhaps you would be able to keep such an affair from your fellows. I would not tell and you have the best blank face of all my priests." The look Seth gave him was warm if sad, so very close to the expression Seto had worn as they watched the sunset.

"I do not know his feelings. I…I am afraid to tell him for fear that he would turn from me in disgust and that would hurt me more than not knowing," Seth's voice was so soft as he said it that Yami almost couldn't hear him over the sounded of the water splashing in the fountain. He had never seen his priest afraid of anything. Even as children he had been fearless in their schemes. Yami could not stand the thought of his priest caught in such indecision.

"If they do not return your feelings it is not meant to be. Your feelings for him will fade over time," Yami said leaning so that their shoulders touched, "And no one could turn from you in disgust. I am sure that they would be honored to have your attentions even if they do not return them. Shall I order you to tell him or will you find the courage to do it yourself?" Seth looked surprised at the thought that Yami might force him to confess. It had never occurred to him that he would care enough to do such a thing. He bit his lips as he weighed his options before coming to his decision.

"Do I have to use words?" Seth asked hiding his eyes under his bangs. Yami shook his head. He knew that Seth was often a man of few words. This was the longest conversation the two had had in years.

"You can do it any way you like. Just do it tonight," Yami said firmly. Seth looked at him for one long second, a measuring glance that Yami often caught Seto giving him the few times they were not dueling in the past. Just as he was starting to wonder at why Seth was not leaving to confess to this mystery man, Seth grabbed the back of his head and mashed their lips together in a kiss so different than those of Seto. It was gentle and lingering, the emotion behind it clear and unhurried. Yami could feel his grip on reality slipping away the longer it continued. He whimpered as Seth started to pull away and grabbed the front of his shirt forcing him back to his lips. It was his turn to speak of the spark that had just been lit in him. He had never considered this before, but the second that he did it felt so right he didn't question it.

* * *

Seto was looking at the city from the large windows in his office when Risa decided that it was time to find out what was bothering her employer so much. She knew that she was in essence taking her life and limbs into her own hands when he was in such a mood, but she was as close to a friend as Kaiba got. She cleared her throat as he turned around. There were dark circles under his eyes from the lack of sleep, but other than that he looked like his normal functioning self. She had seen him run looking far more bedraggled. He looked amazing in the white and blue suit he was wearing. His eyes zeroed in on the papers she had in her hands, clearly wanting her to leave whatever it was and get the hell out. His meeting with Bakura had left him with a lot to think about on top of his mind's insistence that there was something more going on with him and Yami.

"Sir," Risa said as she put the papers on his desk, "That's everything that the legal department managed to come up with regarding the charity duel as well as the predictions for next quarter's earnings." Seto nodded as he made his way to the desk to at least look like he was interested in what the papers said. He knew very well that he couldn't concentrate on his work in this state. He needed to get to the bottom of what was going on between him and Yami. He was surprised when she stopped him from reaching the papers by putting her hand on his wrist. "I'm aware that this may be way out of line, but, sir, do you want to talk about it?" Risa looked at him with hopeful eyes. She knew that it was not good for him to keep things as bottled up as he did. The potential for an implosion was far too great.

"What are you talking about?" Kaiba asked as he went on to pick up the papers. Risa just sighed and moved to exit the room. She had tried. Kaiba watched her make her way across the room and found himself asking before he could think about it.

"How did you know that you wanted a romantic relationship with your husband?" Seto wanted to take the words back the second he said them. Risa stopped her hand on the doorknob. She turned around to look at him her eyes carefully blank as she considered the question he had asked.

"I'm not going to ask who you are talking about," Risa said slowly, knowing that she was treading in shark infested waters with him, "but the fact you have even asked that question means you want it." She was out the door as fast as her feet could carry her hoping to god that she still had a job. She had read a lot into that question.

Kaiba stared at the spot his personal assistant had been; his mind trying to connect dots faster than any super computer was capable of. This was not a question that he could really answer. He was certain of so very little with Yami at the moment. He was certain that he wanted to win a duel against the other. He was certain that he enjoyed the other's company on occasion. He was certain that he wanted him in his bed. But as far as wanting him fully, wanting him as his significant other, he was no where near sure he wanted that. He never did anything he was unsure of, and all Risa's answer had done was confuse him even more. But, the small part of him that had been wheedling away at him since last night, demanded that he try. It told him that this may be one of those things that you didn't know you wanted until you had it. Seto had no intention of deluding either himself or Yami by even entertaining the thought that there was more than lust involved, but trying couldn't hurt. If things didn't work out they could go their separate ways after this was all over and none would be the wiser to anything having gone on.

Decision at least partly made, he felt some of the tension leave his body. Sighing, he sat in his chair and reached for the phone. If he was going to try to have some kind of romantic relationship with Yami he was going to need advice. As last night had highlighted, he had no experience when it came to these sort of things. Hell, he wasn't even sure what couples did besides spending time together and going to various functions. There was only one person he trusted to go to for advice like this, though it pained him to admit to it: Mokuba. Kaiba may have been an intellectual genius, but Mokuba was an emotional one. Mokuba understood others with an empathy that Seto completely lacked. True, Kaiba was a masterful manipulator of emotions in order to get what he wanted, but when it came to considering someone else's emotions he was at a complete loss. He buzzed his secretary to tell her that short of the building burning down he was not to be disturbed, and dialed his brother's cell phone number. He should be in study hall at this hour so he knew that he would not have to worry about interrupting some teacher's lesson.

* * *

Yami sat in the bed, hugging one of the pillows to his chest as he stared at the wall across from the bed. The dream was still fresh in his mind, the imagined touches lingering on his skin. He was hardly embarrassed about how things had progressed in the dream/memory. He was far more concerned with what had happened afterwards. He knew that the events that took place here and now were triggering the memories of what had happened in the past. Did that mean he was currently reliving the past? That the request that Kaiba had made last night was as close as this emotionally stunted version of Seth could get to saying that he loved him? He snorted and shook his head. Please, Yami thought, Kaiba had made it abundantly clear that the only things he could ever love were his company and Mokuba. He bit his lips as he remembered the dream. It had been perfectly wonderful even though he couldn't help comparing Seth to Seto. There was a raw edge to Kaiba that Seth lacked and he would be lying to say that he didn't find the danger it created tightening things low in his stomach. He wanted Seto not Seth. He knew it in his gut. This was not a misplaced bit of affection. He enjoyed the things that were different. He enjoyed Kaiba's arrogance. He enjoyed the sarcasm that was so much a part of him. Yami loved the fact that Kaiba would not back down if he thought that he was in the right. There was nothing subservient about him.

He wanted Seto's affection then. The idea of just sitting together in compatible silence like they had as they watched the sunset was so very attractive. He was not adverse to the idea of the two of them taking a tumble in the sheets either. But how was he going to get either thing? Any doubt about Kaiba not wanting at least one fuck had been obliterated last night. So he was going to have to take that and somehow work it so that he gained the other's affection. Now that he had a goal his mind began creating strategies at an alarming pace just like it did during a duel. He was going to treat this entire situation like one huge duel with Kaiba as both his opponent and his prize. Kaiba was never going to know what hit him.

* * *

Risa was amazed at the turn around that Kaiba's mood had taken in the span of about an hour. He was back up to his usual productivity and even being civil with the department heads and the board. It seemed whatever turmoil he had been in had been solved. Which was why she was wondering why she had been called into his office. She had been in process of confirming all his appointments for the week just in case he had decided to fire her when her pager went off. She stood in front of his desk as she waited for him to get off the phone with the IT department, hands clasped together. Seto hung up the phone and turned to her, his face as blank as it ever was.

"Have you confirmed my appointments for tomorrow, Risa?" Seto asked as he watched her fidget in front of him. He wondered what had her so on edge. Surely she didn't think that she was going to be fired because she had dared to care enough to ask after him? Risa nodded and refused to meet his eyes. Kaiba sighed. "Look, I'm not going to fire you so quit acting like that. It's unnerving." He waited until she looked back at him in relief before he continued with the reason he had called her in the first place. "You're going to need to call them back and cancel. I'm taking tomorrow off." Risa stared at her boss in shock. She had to check her need to reach over and touch his forehead to see if he was running a fever. She knew that Kaiba would come to work with anything short of vomiting.

"Sir? You know that you have an appointment with Henderson about the building of the new Kaiba Land in England tomorrow and you're supposed to be making an appearance at the launch of the new Duel Monster's RPG for the Playstation Simulator," Risa reminded him hoping that she would somehow get through to her employer that taking time off in the middle of the week was not the best thing to be doing. Kaiba just raised and eyebrow at her. He knew that the request was odd, but he didn't think he would be getting resistance on something like this. She was always begging him to take more time off after all.

"I'm aware, Risa. I can speak with Henderson at any time. There has been no major delay in the construction that I am aware of and I'm sure that he would've sent a report if there was. Mokuba is more appropriate for the launch anyway. He was the one who wrote the story line after all," Kaiba continued over her as she started to remind him why his publicist had insisted he go in the first place. The only thing that was keeping him from firing her was the knowledge that she had never seen this kind of behavior from him and that she was likely worried about him. That and it was hard to find help like her these days. "I am taking tomorrow off. Make the calls before I get annoyed, Risa."

"Yes sir," Risa said still looking confused at her employer's insistence that he take tomorrow off. Normally she had to fight him to take time off so that he was not sleeping in the office. She bowed and turned to go.

"Risa," Kaiba said as she was moving to shut the door. Risa stuck her head back in hoping that he had somehow seen sense. "Can you tell the Bokujoo Residence to expect me?" Risa nodded and wondered just what was going through her employer's head.

* * *

Yami was in the process of putting his finishing touches on the caramel stuffed walnuts he had been making when his cell phone went off. He motioned to the cook, a small grey haired woman who had been happy to share the kitchen with him once she saw that he knew his way around, to start putting them on the wax paper he had set out for them to dry on. He pulled the phone out of the pocket of his loose jeans and frowned at the number. The caller ID placed it somewhere in Tokyo, but the number wasn't one of Kaiba's. He flipped open the phone to answer.

"Moshi Moshi. Yami speaking," Yami said as he wandered out of the kitchen and to the other side of the bar so that the cook could have room to maneuver.

"Yami, darling," Yami frozen at the female voice and his mind immediately started to think the worse. "I do believe you forgot to give me you number. No matter. The phone book is such a wonderful thing."

"What do you want, Yuki?" Yami ground out and the cook looked up briefly from her task at his tone. He had been nothing but charming to her so his change in attitude was startling. Yami almost closed the phone at the sound of her laughter on the other end. He wouldn't put it past her to call him just to try to mess with his mind.

"I want to invite you to lunch. I know this wonderful little seafood place. I figured we could catch up on our families," Yuki said in a high cheerful voice. Yami barely heard the threat in her voice, but it was there. He frowned as he knew that he was going to have to go to lunch with her. He wanted to keep her as far away from his light as possible. It wasn't like she could do anything in a public place after all.

"When shall we meet? I'm assuming you have reservations?" Yami asked sounding just as sweet as she did. Two could play at this game.

"Of course," Yuki said sounding truly amused at the fact that she had gotten Yami to play her game. Yuki had been playing since she was old enough to understand the idea of class. "I'll give you the name and you can meet me there in an hour. Dress casual, dear. It's on the docks." Yami made a sound of acknowledgement as she gave him the name of the restaurant. He closed the phone and nodded to the cook. She was well trained enough that not to ask what the phone call had been about. Kaiba-sama did not pay his staff to gossip.

* * *

Bakura leaned against the candy apple red GT mustang at the curb of the airport pick up terminal. He had been there for a good hour and had been getting looks from the security, but the ones he had shot back were lethal enough to keep that at bay. This was a Ryou approved fieldtrip so he had gotten use of the car-a car that he had stolen from an over pompous Yakuza boss who had been encroaching on his territory. He had been pleasantly surprised by the call he had gotten from Malik asking for him to pick them up at the airport. He and Malik had made it a point to keep in touch for business reasons. A lot of the artifacts that Isis thought had gone missing during shipping had actually been diverted by Malik to Bakura who then found buyers for them. It was very lucrative for the two of them. Especially since Malik was using the money to save up for an apartment in Domino. Malik did not particularly enjoy the gypsy life that they were forced into as archeologists.

Bakura waved his hand as he spotted the trio. Isis was ridiculously easy to pick out in a crowd. She was tall and still insisted on wearing traditional Egyptian clothing from the ancient days. Thankfully the dress wasn't white today but a soft muted purple. It looked quite lovely on her. Malik, on the other hand, was looking sullen in his beige cargos and Korn T-shirt. Isis was in the process of giving him a tongue lashing about something. Rashid was following the two looking a lot like a more servant than a member of the group. Especially, since he was the one carrying all the bags. Malik perked up as soon as he saw Bakura and moved towards him as fast as he could without looking like he was running. Bakura just smirked.

"Long time no see, guardian," Bakura said as the two of them touched fists. Malik grinned.

"Too busy keeping precious items out of conniving hands like yours, thief," Malik said with a shrug. Isis rolled her eyes at the two of them murmuring something under her breath about 'boys'. Bakura pushed a button on the keychain and the trunk popped open with a click.

"Have Lurch(1) put your things in the trunk," Bakura said and acted surprised to see Isis. His eyes narrowed at the piece of jewelry around her neck. He was well aware that the necklace no longer let her see the future and was basically a useless hunk of junk since Kaiba had 'broken' it, but it was hard to suppress three thousand years of coveting the thing. He leered at her with a smirk. "Lovely to see you, Isis. I'm sorry to say that you'll be taking the couch same as everyone else. Ryou only lets me make enough to keep a single room apartment." Isis looked down her nose at the white haired man and had to wonder how it was that she had let Malik make their living arrangements for the time they were going to be here.

"It's better than sleeping on a futon in the desert," Isis said flatly and Bakura shrugged. There was a latching thunk as the trunk was closed and Bakura walked around so that he was in the driver's seat. Isis raised an eyebrow and looked at Malik. She was unsure that getting into a vehicle so obviously built for speed with the tomb robber at the wheel was the safest thing to do. Malik rolled his eyes as he took shotgun forcing Isis and Rashid into the back seat. Bakura barely waited until they had their seatbelts on before he pelted out of the terminal flicking off the security as he went. Bakura merged onto the highway without bothering to slow down and proceeded to weave in and out of traffic in a way that had Isis closing her eyes so she wouldn't panic.

"Who the hell gave you a license?" Isis asked her hands gripping the seat. Bakura just cackled.

"Don't have one. Some weird thing about me not having a birth certificate and Ryou was too young for me to use his," he said and Malik started to snicker. Isis made a little moan of horror and leaned on Rashid. She was going to call a taxi next time. The money she was saving was hardly worth the risk to their lives. "So why are you guys here anyway? Don't tell me you've seen some kind of horrible threat to that baka pharaoh or better yet the whole world. I'll puke." Isis said nothing as she concentrated on not thinking about where she was.

"Nah," Malik said kicking his hiking boot clad feet up on the dashboard. Bakura glared at him out of the corner of his eye and they were quickly put back down. "We heard about Yami's engagement and decided that he had to have a proper party. Isis is even going to make _Kahk bi Loz_," Malik said with a smirk. Bakura snorted in laughter. The dessert was tasty, but it was usually only made on one occasion: the ritual bathing of the bride. It brought forth the image of Yami dressed in a western style wedding gown and now that he knew what was really going on made it even better. There was no way that the two of them could get out of attending the party without blowing their cover. Oh the joy he was getting out of this.

"May I suggest we refrain from talking until we reach the apartment? Bakura-san needs to be able to concentrate," Rashid said calmly as he noticed the way that the car had started to weave side to side a little as Bakura laughed.

"Whatever you say Lurch," Bakura said with a smirk as he cut across three lanes of traffic to take their exit. Even Malik looked a little green.

* * *

Yami glared at the staring eyes of the other restaurant patrons. Casual, it seemed, had a different meaning to Yuki than it did to him. He had shown up in a pair of artificially worn jeans and a sleeveless green turtleneck along with one of his various pairs of boots. Yuki was in a skirt suit of deep blue with matching heels. Almost all the other patrons of the restaurant were in some variation of a suit. Yami stuck out like a sore thumb. The only thing that had kept the host from refusing to seat him was the regal air he managed to give off even dressed as he was. It seemed that Yuki may have scored a point on the proper dress, but Yami was far from out of the fight.

"How have you been?" Yuki asked as she reached for the crystal goblet that held water while they waited for their food. Yami had found out quickly that there was no menu. Everyone got whatever the chef had decided to serve for the day. "Oh, I'm sorry, darling. I forgot that you are Kaiba-kun's little house boy. I'm surprised he gave you permission to lunch with me." Her tone was so sickeningly polite it was an effort on Yami's part to keep his temper. He was doing Kaiba a favor-one that had gotten increasingly convoluted, but a favor nonetheless. He didn't need the other's permission to do _anything_. Yami arranged his face so that it held nothing more than a vaguely interested expression that he had often worn when social events had long run over during his time as the pharaoh and he was bored.

"Ah, but unlike most I have a mind of my own," Yami said in the same polite tone. "I failed to inform him that I was leaving the house." Yami knew that it was useless to argue that he was not some prostitute that Kaiba had hired. The woman was delusional and nothing he said would change what she thought was going on.

"Ah," Yuki said as she brought the glass to her lips. It covered her smile at the knowledge nicely. They were saved from having to try to make further conversation by the arrival of their lunch. Long rectangular white plates were put in front of them with a progression of different sushi rolls on it. A long thin line of wasabi ran the length of the plate with a single piece of freshly sliced ginger in between each roll. The affect was beautiful. They ate in a silence heavy with angry tension. Yami was near ready to scream by the time they finished with the dishes and could no longer use them as an excuse not to talk.

"I'm sure you realize that this is not a social call," Yuki said as she placed a gold card onto the tray that the waiter had brought with the check. Yami nodded and his eyes narrowed. It seemed that they were going to get down to business finally. "If you would care to follow me?" She rose with a practiced grace and led him out a side exit and into an alley between the restaurant and a warehouse. The second they were outside Yami crossed his arms and faced her. She was digging for something in her purse. "Here we are," Yuki said looking up at him with a cruel smile lighting her face. She held a small stack of square papers that Yami couldn't see from where he was. "I do believe you will be most interested in these," she turned the top one around to show him and Yami found himself staring at a picture of Yuugi. It was clear in the photo that Yuugi was unaware that it was even being taken. Yami growled and made to snatch it.

"He has nothing to do with this," Yami snarled as she held the photos out of his reach. Her eyes danced with a dark amusement that made Yami's skin crawl.

"I don't think you realize just what game you are playing, Mutou-san," she stepped back and out of his reach, "Which is why I am willing to give you one more chance to back out of this without anyone being harmed. I want you out of the picture by the hearing or I will have someone come to visit him." Yami was enraged at her threat and was moving to gather the shadows, but was cut off as something hit the back of his head hard. He dropped onto the rough concrete as he was knocked out by a rather large looking thug in a suit. He looked at Yuki for approval and she waved her hand for him to wait. She walked over to Yami's prone body and flipped him onto his back with her high heeled shoe. "This is your last warning, Mutou-san," she whispered as she dropped the pictures onto his body. They fell around him like snowflakes, some showing the pictures of Yuugi and other members of Yuugi-tachi. Yuki walked to the mouth of the alley as two more of her men headed back towards where Yami lay. She stopped one of them and leaned over so it looked like she was speaking into his ear. "Don't bang up his pretty little face too badly. This is a warning not a punishment."

* * *

Seto was putting the finishing touches on the proposal for the design of new cards when the phone rang. He sighed and cracked his knuckles before reaching for the phone. He hoped it was Mokuba calling to thank him for allowing him to be the main show with the whole new duel monsters game. His placed the ear piece to his ear.

"Kaiba," he said flatly and leaned back in his chair.

"Is this Seto Kaiba?" a professional male voice asked on the other end of the phone. Kaiba frowned as he confirmed that this was indeed Seto Kaiba. "This is Domino General Hospital," the words caused the bottom to fall out of his stomach. Had something happened to Mokuba while he was at school? Had Yami hurt himself messing around with the prototype duel disk? "You're listed as the insurance holder for one Yami Mutou. We need you to come down to the hospital to sign some papers." Kaiba was moving before he thought about it. He picked up his jacket and shrugged it back on as he headed out the door without bothering to say good-bye.

* * *

Yami grimaced as the nurse dabbed rubbing alcohol onto a cut across his ribs. He was bare chested in the small ER room. His torso was littered with bruises and the occasional cut where the cement had cut through the skin as they kicked him about. He knew that he was lucky that they had knocked him out first, though the pounding in his head was setting up a good opposing argument. Yuugi sat in a chair as the nurse worked, his eyes worried. Yuugi had known the second that Yami had passed out. He had gone so far as to skip one of his classes along with Joey, Honda, and Ryou in order to find the former pharaoh. Yuugi thanked god for the ring. It had shown them where Yami was relatively quickly. Yami had been passed out on the concrete and covered in blood by the time they had found him. Yuugi had called an ambulance and rode with Yami to the hospital. Yami had gained consciousness on the ride over.

"Lady Isis sweet mother of Horus," Yami swore as the nurse put the needle through his skin in order to stitch the cut closed. "Is that really necessary?"

"If we don't sew it up it won't heal right and will likely get an infection," the nurse said with a giggle at the odd way he swore. She was a pretty young thing with short blonde hair and rich chocolate eyes. Her figure was the envy of many and it was clear that she was used to being the center of all male attention. Just then there was a knock at the door as the doctor, an older gentleman with no hair and glasses, walked in along with Seto. Seto strode across the room without bothering to greet Yuugi. Yami would've enjoyed the way Seto seemed to be paying close attention to him if it wasn't for the small bit of concern he could see in the other's eyes.

"Do you want to check my teeth too?" Yami asked and winced as the nurse gave a harder tug on the thread in his side. Kaiba's eyes flicked to where the nurse was stitching him up before meeting Yami's eyes again.

"Very funny," Kaiba said as he glared at Yami. "What happened?" Yami adverted his eyes from Kaiba's as he told him that he had gone to meet Yuki for lunch and ended up getting 'jumped'. There was no way he could really tell him what really happened with the doctor and the nurse in the room. Kaiba had gotten madder and madder the more Yami explained. He thought that the other had more sense than to go meet the biggest danger to their farce by himself. What had Yami been thinking? He could infer what had really happened from what Yami said. He was forced to swallow his anger, though.

"He is going to be just fine," the doctor said as Yami finished talking. "He'll be sore for a few days and likely be exhausted as his body heals." Kaiba nodded and Yami dreaded the thought of having to deal with his wounds once the pain meds they had pumped into him before he woke up wore off. "Tylenol should be enough to take care of the pain. If you would come with me, Kaiba-sama? The billing department has some papers that they need you to fill out." Kaiba shot Yami a glare as he followed the doctor out the door. It was clear that Yami was going to be hearing about the stupidity of his decision soon.

* * *

Kaiba had the decency to wait until the driver dropped Yuugi off before he set into Yami. He could not understand how the other could be so irresponsible as to willingly meet with a woman he considered a cunning adversary. He had thought that he had made the stakes very clear when they had started this mess.

"What were you thinking? You know she hates your guts," Kaiba said just under a shout. He didn't want his driver to get any ideas from anything he overheard. "What on earth made you decide to go somewhere of her choosing at her request? I thought you were supposed to be some kind of strategic genius. You don't give an adversary an advantage like that." Yami sank low in the seat facing Kaiba and rubbed his temples. The pain medicine was wearing off and he was beginning to feel the real pain of his bump on the back of his head.

"I was stupid," Yami snapped, "I'll admit to that. Now can we do this later? I feel like a have a sumo wrestler doing a ballet in mind brain." Seto snorted. As far as he was concerned Yami deserved to have some pain.

"No, we cannot do this later," Kaiba said crossing his arms and glaring at his companion. "I don't think you understand just how much danger you were in, Yami. She could've killed you and left your body there with none the wiser. She could've kidnapped you and used you as leverage against me." Yami rolled his eyes at Seto's words. Now was not the time for this. He felt too much like shit to deal with the other.

"Please," Yami said, "using me as leverage would be a waste of her time. You wouldn't even likely bother to read her demands if I was in her custody or not." If they hadn't been in a car, Seto would have stood. As it was he settled for his rage surrounding him like a cocoon. He was angry at Yuki for hurting Yami. He was angry with Yami for being so stupid as to fall into her trap. He was angry that he was not able to do anything to protect him; that he would've even known that something had happened to him without the insurance snag at the hospital.

"Is that what you really think?" Seto snarled in a deadly quiet voice he saved only for the most serious of times. "You think that I wouldn't even bother to come after you if she took you? Are you blind? Do you think I get this worked up over everyone? That call…Oh, god…," Kaiba reached forward across the small space between the two and gripped the jacket that the hospital had given Yami in apology for cutting off his shirt in the ambulance, and pulled him practically into his lap. Yami, shocked by the suddenness of the CEO's movement, sat there staring into his eyes in confusion. "This is not the world you're used to, Yami. This is a game with rules you have to grow up with to understand," Seto was calmer now as he spoke, the rage carefully controlled and being channeled into the plot he was hatching with the aid of one psychotic thief. "I want you to have at least two members of the security team with you at all times except when you're at the house. I want you to promise me that you will _not_ do anything like this without consulting me again," the CEO put a finger on the pharaoh's lips to silence the protest forming in his mouth. "Today proved that you need someone to watch your back, and since I can't be there they will do. Now promise me, Yami. Promise me on your honor."

Yami bit his lips as he looked into Kaiba's eyes. He saw the familiar determination that had been present along with all their duels. But more than that, buried so far down that Yami was questioning whether it was really there or not, was a little bit of the fear he had often seen in Seto's eyes when there was a chance that he could loose his brother. It was that that finally made his decision to give into the CEO's demand. Well, that and he knew that Kaiba would run rim shod over his wishes anyway. Seto protected everything he deemed worthy with all that he had. It brought a warmth to Yami's stomach at the thought that he had been deemed worthy of Seto's protection. Perhaps he would not have to work as hard as he thought to gain the CEO.

"I promise," Yami said and Kaiba released his hold on the jacket and leaned back against the seat in relief. He had almost thought that he was going to have to fight more to get what he wanted, but it seemed that Yami was willing to let him take the lead in this. Yami moved off the other's lap and sat next to him on the seat, leaning so their shoulders were touching. Yami was tired and the argument had not helped his headache any. He yawned and rested his head against Seto's shoulder too and was out in seconds. So he completely missed the small smile that made its way onto Kaiba's lips as he went to ask him something only to find Yami sleeping.

* * *

(1)Lurch as in Lurch from the Adam's Family. I needed someone to rag on a little bit and decided that Bakura would be more likely to make fun of Rashid than anyone else.

Reviews:

Bluepheonix669: I'm glad you like my characterization so much. Your review made me smile. Thank you so much, and I hope you are still enjoying this.

Kessaris: Kaiba is not very good at expressing his emotions with words so he uses actions. That's why he kept kissing Yami with a passion. I think Yuki has started to sink to a whole new level with this chapter. Thanks for the review.

Barrie18: I'm glad that you understand what I was going for with Kaiba being so confused and Yami refusing him. I was worried that some people would think he was confessing his undying love. Once they both start trying to actively gain the other things are going to get so much more awkward between the two until they figure that they want the same thing.-giggles- I don't hate Anzu and am really not trying to bash her. It's just that I can see her being confused with loosing Yami and then finding out that Kaiba is 'using 'him would totally make her try to help him anyway she could. When she figures out everything she is going to feel like shit.

JewelValentine: I'm glad you enjoy my tightrope walk. –grin- I totally got your metaphor, no worries. I'd like to say that the rope is getting smaller so he's going to have to pick a side soon. I can totally see the two of them's relationship being like a rollercoaster with no real tracks. There is so much potential for combustion. I totally agree that Yami is an arrogant ass through most of the series. I'd like to also add that he is very self-righteous too. For a man with no memories he sure seems to know what's best for everyone. I join you in a giant cheer for all members of all fandoms. Everyone needs some love too help them triumph!

KnotofRibbon: -blushes- I got kissed. Yay! I'm glad you were able to pick up on the atmosphere so well. It's hard to get the mood just right. Thanks.

Snape Goes Commando: I love Kaiba's fucked up ness too. His flaws are just so endearing. –giggle-I think he is really going to have a time once he realizes that he can't control this love. I think he's going to freak more over that than anything else. I'm glad that everyone responded so well to Yami not jumping in bed with him. I was afraid that I would get hate mail about it. –relieved sigh-

Toxic Hathor: I got free Baklawa! –munches- Thanks. I'm glad you like Seto's outburst. He's so bottle up that he just has to explode sometime, and the fireworks when he does. –sigh- So destructively pretty. It almost makes me think that he is manic depressive. I try very hard to make sure that things flow like real life. I do believe that it was David Eddings who said that what makes any work of fantasy believable is remembering that your characters are human and have human needs. I'm glad you find my fanfiction so unique. I try.

Akira Muratake: I'm glad that the hotness sort of made up for the loss of humor. Hopefully, now that the dynamic duo of Marik and Bakura are together the humor should abound.

Kittylove: I'm glad you think that everyone is so in character. I work really hard to do that. I'm glad that you are enjoying my little add in of Anzu. I have such plans for her.

Blue September: Thanks. I'm glad so many people were able to pick up on just how hard it was for Kaiba to ask for that much. We have the potential for so many disasters now that they are going to try to mutually court each other.

Mikkimikka: I'm really not trying to bash Anzu. Her heart is really in the right place. Yuki is just very good at manipulating people via emotions. Hopefully, Anzu will come to her senses. I think Bakura is my favorite psycho of all time. He is just so much fun to write. Which is why I had to bring him back. More will be revealed as just what he is up to soon.

Vuzznut: Thanks for the review and I give you more!


End file.
